Dear folks,
Lincoln County, one of North Carolina's more historic counties, was
formed in 1779. The ultimate outcome of the Revolutionary War was
determined by battles fought in and around Lincoln County. The
political, industrial and social fabric of western North Carolina was
determined by the direction taken by Lincoln County.
In order to provide helpful and informative information to
researchers, I have tried to make the Lincoln County NCGenWeb Project
home page reflective of those goals. Without the help provided by
willing volunteers, the Lincoln County page would be but an empty shell.
Recently Ms. Kathy Gunter Sullivan, assumed the leadership role of
the transcription of the Tax Lists of Lincoln County. These 150
individual tax lists are housed at the North Carolina Department of
History and Archives and were purchased in microfilm format by Ms.
Alta M. Durden and were faithfully transcribed by Bill Eddleman of
Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Elizabeth Lankford and Kathy Gunter
Sullivan of Charlotte, North Carolina and Jan E. Williams of
Columbus, Ohio. Kathy provided final proof-reading prior to web
posting. The final result of these efforts may be found at:
http://www.ncgenweb.us/lincoln/tax/taxrec.htm
The significance of these tax lists, or any other tax lists can not
be emphasized enough. They provide a capsule of the lives of the
populace. They indicate not only their wealth, but their proximity to
neighbors, their geographical location, the extent of their holdings
and their status in the community. A search engine has been provided
to help locate tax listees. (Please bear in mind that the original
spellings are used). Currently, the posted lists include only those
tax lists dating from 1817 to 1840.
I would like to publicly thank all these folks for the tireless
effort they expended in making the posting of these tax lists
possible. It took well over a year to bring this project to fruition
and the researchers and genealogists who use these resources will be
the ultimate beneficiaries. This project and the concept of free,
unfettered genealogical and historical research has greatly benefited
from the efforts of these folks. Please join me in offering the
sincere thanks they deserve.
At the same time, I would like to offer a challenge to each and every
USGenWeb Project entity to adopt a specific project that will benefit
the Project readership. Whether it be state census records, court
minutes, land grants, marriage bonds or whatever. Too often, we are
content to preside over a page of links pointing to the work of
others. The USGenWeb Project is too important to settle for such
mediocrity. Those of us who have accepted the task of managing
Project pages owe the public a degree of originality, rather than a
few pictures and an empty presence.
If there is such a thing as a USGWP "Page of the Month," I would like
to nominate the Lincoln County, NC for that title.
Derick S. Hartshorn
former NCGenWeb Project State Coordinator
current USGenWeb Project-County Coordinator
City of Conover/Catawba/Burke/Lincoln/Gaston/Cleveland, NC