The CSA members who attended the May meeting at the Caskwerks distillery and tasting room in Tempe must have behaved themselves and made a good impression – because we’ve been asked back.

Thursday (8 August) the distillery owners have invited us to come along to their premises at 1920 East University Drive, Tempe, between 5pm and 8pm. Introduce yourself as a Society member and apparently a surprise awaits.
Caskwerks has become the Society’s newest member and we’re delighted to welcome the owners into the CSA family.

So last time we either didn’t drink enough and were supremely well-behaved, or we drank so much we boosted the profits. Let’s do the same again this time.

As hot as it is and so many have fled the valley, we decided to just have a casual get together at Caskwerks Distillery on 8/8.  No program, just time together with a dram or two….

The Flagstaff Games were great and one of the best attended that I have been to.  The new location is a hit.  Good music, good friends, and a few new members that want to get actively involved.  A good weekend until someone let a campfire get out of hand.

The Prescott Games are on September 28th but I will be at a wedding in Maryland.  Make a good showing for us up there in the high valley.

Enjoy the new rains.  It almost feels like Scotland.  Well, maybe not…

The next cycle of events will be starting soon.  Games planning, Scotstoberfest, St Andrews dinner, Christmas at the castle, Burns Dinner…..  Pitch in, let’s have some fun.

David

Scotland's Hidden Gems - The Museum of Flight
Iain Lundy

Have you ever sat inside one of the supersonic Concorde airliners that used to make transatlantic flights between the US and Europe? If not, then pay a visit to a remote part of Scotland’s east coast and for only £12.50 ($15) you can experience the thrill of stepping on board one of these incredible machines.

Scotland’s Museum of Flight sits in a disused airfield near the town of North Berwick, about 33 miles east of Edinburgh. It houses the only Concorde in Scotland – a plane that flew 8,064 flights at twice the speed of sound. When British Airways retired the aircraft in 2003, the Museum gratefully took possession of it.

Known as Scotland’s Concorde, she flew for 25 years to destinations including New York, Paris, Auckland, and  Barbados. Now visitors can take a stroll through the aisles and get pictures taken on seats that once cost more than £6,000 a flight.

The museum is located at the village of East Fortune and the Concorde is not the only draw for aviation buffs. A Hawk T.1A flown by the RAF Red Arrow’s display team is a major attraction, as is an old British Airways Boeing 707.

Many other famous aircraft names from the golden age of flying dot the hangars and runway areas at East Fortune. They include a de Havilland Comet; a Hawker Siddeley Harrier; a Messerschmitt Komet; a Piper Comanche; a Vickers Viscount; a Panavia Tornado; a Bristol Bolingbroke; and the Avro Vulcan bomber shown below.

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Tax Records: Wealth of our Ancestors

by Robert M. Wilbanks IV, B.A.
Chief Genealogist & Historian, C.S.A.
genealogy@arizonascots.com

There is an old expression that “nothing is certain in life except death and taxes.” So, let’s talk about taxes. Tax records in genealogy research that is.

Taxation dates far back to ancient societies. The basic principles of taxation are as old as human society, dating thousands of years into the past. Taxes are levied to pay for centralized government services, as well as to cover the cost for police, fire or the military, and more.

Fair taxation in England during the middle ages was often an issue of contention in society. A poll tax was a frequent form of taxation on every adult within a jurisdiction. Property and church taxes was also a common practice. Peasants who did not own land still had to pay property taxes on the land they rented or worked. They were also obligated to donate 10% of their labor or produce to the church.

As England established colonies around the world, taxation on these colonies also began to become issues of contention as the colonists were forced to pay hefty duties on staples, as well as various forms of poll taxes, income taxes, property taxes and more.

With the formation of a new government, the United States levied few taxes as it did not maintain a large standing military, instead relying on the local militia as the need arose. Also, the central government, national, state and local, in general was smaller. The primary form of taxation was on property, including livestock, and other, with a poll tax being another annual form of taxation. However, after the Civil War, in order to pay accrued debts brought out by the war, the government briefly experimented with an income tax from 1862 to 1866. In 1917, the personal income tax was enacted as an annual method of tax collection from the citizens.

United States tax records usually are found in county records, held by the county clerk. So, learning about your ancestor’s locality and the types of taxes taken, and whether those records still exist and are available is very important.

Various records exist for taxation throughout the history of Scotland. Originally, revenues came from property owned by the crown. During times of financial need, the government levied differing kinds of national taxes, often separate from local taxes collected for local services and poor relief. After the unification of England and Scotland in 1707, Scotland was levied many of the same taxes as England.

Meanwhile, some unique types of taxes collected, and for which many records still exist, include the following:

• Hearth Tax was literally a tax of 14 shillings on every hearth in the kingdom, paid by tenants and landowners. This tax occurred from 1690 to 1695.
• Land Tax Rolls, also known as cess rolls or valuation rolls, was a tax collected from 1645 to 1831 in Scotland. The rolls listed the owners of landed estates and assessed the rental value of their lands.
• Poll Taxes were levied in 1694, 1695 and 1698. It was levied on all men over the age of 16, except for the extreme poor.
• Apprenticeship Tax was levied from 1710 to 1811 on the money a master received for an apprenticeship indenture, due within a year the term of indenture expired.
• Death Duties is a tax levied on the estates of the recently deceased. This began in 1804. Relationships, date of death, and other information.

Many, many other taxes in the 1700s include: Window Tax (1747-1798), Commutation Tax (1784-1798), Shop Tax (1785-1789), Cart Tax (1785-1798), Carriage Tax (1785-1798), and many other various taxes.

Tax records make a great substitute for land and census, and other records. Tax records vary in content, depending on the purpose of the record. Information might include name, occupation, description of property and belongings, number of males over 21, number of slaves, farm animals, and much more. In addition to learning about an ancestor’s inventory of assets and overall wealth, one of the great benefits of tax records is that it can be an annual record of an ancestor between census years. Most notably, their sudden discontinued appearance could indicate migration, or death, etc. Also, widows and children can appear in tax records as well. And, you can determine a year of birth when a male within a household suddenly appears and become taxed, usually for the first time once he reaches the age of 21.

Many of the U.S., Scotland and England tax records can be found in microfilmed copies of the originals at the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City. Search the FamilySearch catalog by locality: www.familysearch.org/search/catalog

For more information about taxation and available records in Scotland, including county-by-county availability, visit the following page of the “National Records of Scotland”: www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/guides/taxation-records

This is another of a series of articles in which I show you the basics of searching for your family history, discussing the use of family records, public records, and online resources nationally and internationally, etc. The previous articles are now available on the Genealogy Section of this website.   See “Genealogy” in the menu options at the top of the web page.

It has just been announced that the 2019 International Commemoration of the Great Irish Famine is to be held in Phoenix on Sunday 3 November.

The Famine hit Ireland in the middle years of the 1800s and caused the deaths of more than one million people. Millions more fled the country, many to the United States and Canada. Of those who landed here, thousands were ‘Scots-Irish’, people whose families had moved from Scotland to Ireland, then Ireland to America.

The massive upsurge in genealogy allows many to trace their ancestry through the Scots-Irish and back to the original family homes in Scotland. Most, but by no means all, are traceable to the south-west of the country, from Glasgow down to the Dumfriesshire area.

More details about this year’s celebrations will be announced soon, and it is an opportunity for CSA members to join with our Irish friends.

Image: Famine Memorial in Dublin