Series 18189

Salt Lake County (Utah). County Collector Corrected tax assessment rolls, 1859-1897.

49 microfilm reels

These records are housed in the Utah State Archives' permanent storage room.

Historical Note

See history of the records' creator.

Summary of Records

These volumes record the taxes paid on assessments of real and personal property in Salt Lake County.

Scope and Content

These volumes record the taxes paid on assessments of real and personal property in Salt Lake County. The property may be owned by individuals or businesses. The county assessor assessed the property value, and beginning in 1854 the county court (later known as the county commission) examined and corrected any assessments before turning the process over to the county collector to collect the moneys. The county collector collected taxes levied by the territory, county, school districts (beginning 1887), and cities (beginning 1893). Every volume records the property owner's name and rough property location. In addition there are columns to record the total value of property, the amount of each category of taxes (county, territorial, school, etc.), total value of taxes, amount paid, usually date paid, and name of payer. Initially the volumes were known in the law as "tax lists" or "abstract rolls." Beginning in 1880, this payment data was placed in the same volume as a copy of theoriginal assessment data showing the quantity and value of real estate and improvements, livestock, and other personal property ranging from household furniture and tools to merchandise, stock, bonds, and bullion. Any abatements or remittances authorized by the county board of equalization also are shown. The term "abstract roll" was then replaced by the term "duplicate assessment roll" or "corrected assessment roll."
District school taxes may appear in separate volumes or simply as a separate column of taxation within a volume. District school taxes, county tax, territorial tax, county school tax, territorial school tax, etc. were all calculated as a fraction of the same assessed values. Other special categories may be grouped separately, rather than appearing within their geographic district, usually toward the rear or front of a volume. Such categories include merchants in the early volumes, railroads from 1879 on, telephone and telegraph assessments beginning in 1884, and bankshareholders from 1880 on. Railroads and telephone and telegraph assessments were based primarily on the amount of rail or line through the county. After 1892 these were assessed by the territory with a portion allocated to the county; that portion was required to be recorded in the county assessor's books. At the back of the volumes, there are frequently appendices for assessments missed or lacking sufficient entry space earlier.
In 1896 the law changed which resulted in a change of procedures in 1898 and the end of this series. The collector's office was abolished and the initial roll created by the assessor was passed from the assessor to the county commission serving as a board of equalization to the treasurer; separate, duplicate copies were no longer created.

Research Note

The location of volumes for years other than those listed is unknown. There is also a gap for wards 1 through 14 in 1891.
The geographical arrangement can be confusing. The geographical blocks may be recorded as wards, school districts, or plat and block or section, township, and range. Transitions in record keeping may also be confusing; for example, in 1892 school district 66 follows school district 29 because both were in the Sugarhouse Ward. Initially, entries are grouped by ward. District school taxes, in separate volumes, are by school district, but as school districts correspond directly to ward, the distinction usually is minor. In 1893, rather than wards, the legal property description is given. For the most part, these move alphabetically through the plats in the Salt Lake City Survey, thereunder numerically through the blocks in each plat. The 5 Acre Big Field Survey plats, again alphabetically, follow the Salt Lake City Survey plats. Section, township, and range follow the 5 Acre Big Field Survey plats. All these surveys are implicitly within the Salt Lake City School District, although,outside of the recapitulations, this fact was rarely stated. Thus starting explicitly with School District 21 rather than a school district one, for outlying areas, makes more sense than it may initially appear.

Arrangement

For records created from 1859 to 1892, arrangement is chronological by year, thereunder geographical, thereunder alphabetical by first letter of surname..

Volumes are arranged chronologically by year. Entries in the volumes are arranged geographically thereunder alphabetically by first letter of surname until 1893, when entries are just arranged geographically. Special categories may be separated. See the research note for further detail.

Additional Forms

This series is available on microfilm.

Access Restrictions

This series is classified as Public.

Use Restrictions

These records are available for reproduction and use.

Preferred Citation

Cite the Utah State Archives and Records Service, the creating agency name, the series title, and the series number.

Custody History

These records were transferred to the State Archives by the county before the creation of a county archives. Hard copy was returned to the county archives 26 July 2001; a microfilm reference copy was retained by the Utah State Archives.

Acquisition Information

These records were acquired from the creating agency through established retention schedules.

Processing Information

This series was processed in 1997 by A.C. Cone. Microfilming was done by the Archives primarily in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Most volumes dating 1880 and later were destroyed following filming. Hard copy (and a film copy) was returned to the Salt Lake County Archives 26 July 2001; a microfilm reference copy was retained by the Utah State Archives.

Other Finding Aids

Other: The recapitulations in the volumes beginning in the 1870s may be used as a table of contents for the year. The wards (numbered or named), plats or sections, school districts, and categories (railroads, telephone/telegraph, etc.) appear in the same order in the recapitulations as they do in the volumes. Other: Subdivision indexes, held by the Salt Lake County Archives, are indexes which give legal locations for many named subdivisions which in turn can be used to find assessments in these volumes.

Related Material

Tax assessment rolls from Salt Lake County (Utah). County Treasurer, Series 4351, records assessments, changes, and collections after 1898.
Tax assessment rolls from Salt Lake City (Utah). City Assessor, Series 4922, shows taxes paid on Salt Lake City until 1893 when they were included in this series.
Tax assessment rolls from Salt Lake County (Utah). County Assessor, Series 18188, shows the initial step in the taxation process as well as tax payments for 1853 when the assessor/collector was one office.
Property tax collections register from Salt Lake County (Utah). County Collector, Series 19076, shows summaries of delayed collections.

Container List

ReelDescription
11859
21860
31863
41878
51879
61880
71881
81882
91883
101884
111885
121886
131886 (district school tax only)
141887
151887 (district school tax only)
161888
171888 (district school tax only)
181889
191889 (district school tax only)
201890; school district 1-20, 51, moneylenders-appendix; school district 21-50, 55-65, bank shareholders, Alta school district, appendix-recapitulations
211891; ward 15-22, ""C""-moneylenders
221891; school district 21-42, appendix
231891; school district 43-Alta, railroads-recapitulations
241891; (district school tax only); school district 21- 65
251892; ward 1-15
261892; ward 16-22, ""C""-bank shareholders
271892; school district 21-29, 66, 30-47
281892; school district 48-Little Cottonwood, bee hives-recapitulations
291892; appendix
301893; Block 1, Plat A, SLC Sur-Block 60, Plat C, SLC Sur
311893; Block 61, Plat C, SLC Sur-Terrace Heights
321893; school district 21-41
331893; school district 43-Silverton, railroads-recapitulations
341894; Block 1, Plat A, SLC Sur-Block 62, Plat C, SLC Sur
351894; Block 63, Plat C, SLC Sur-Terrace Heights
361894; school district 21-46
371894; school district 47-Silverton, appendix-recapitulations
381895; Block 1, Plat A, SLC Sur- Block 75, Plat C, SLC Sur
391895; Block 76, Plat C, SLC Sur-Terrace Heights
401895; school district 21-44
411895; school 46-Silverton, appendix-recapitulations
421896; Block 3, Plat A, SLC Sur-University Subdivision
431896; Block 87, Plat C, SLC Sur-Terrace Heights, bank shareholders
441896; school district 21-44, bank shareholders
451896; school 46-Silverton, mortgages-recapitulations
461897; Block 1, Plat A, SLC Sur-Block 114, Plat C, SLC Sur
471897; Block 1, Plat D, SLC Sur-Terrace Heights
481897; school district 21-46, appendix
491897; school district 47-Silverton, bank shareholders-recapitulations