TAXES AND VOTERS TABLE
with extracts from "Jewish Holdings in the Kaunas Archives" and "LitvakSIG FAQ's"

Tax & Voter Lists Combined Fields:

Surname / Given Name / Father / Age / Comments / Day / Month / Year / Town / Uyezd / Guberniya / Type of Record / Page # / Record # / Archive/Fond/Inventory/File#

Tax list records can vary as to the types of information they give. While the tax lists provide less information than revision or family lists, they are important and sometimes very useful. They list the family name, first name and father's names of all heads of households in the community. Sometimes the wife's name, the number of family members, occupation, and financial status or class is also included. For example, the 1846 records give the wives' names. The 1877 insolvency records recite ages and, for those who passed away, the ages at time of death. The 1892 lists name professions and tell the number of males in the house.

Above: Partially translated Tax Table 

Original document
(Click to see larger view - 300K)   

We have incorporated a variety of taxes paid by the Jews of Lithuania into one Tax Table. These files include real estate records, lists of apartment dwellers, farmers and estate holders, charitable donations and lists of financial assistance to the poor, as well as inheritance and other court records.

Entries in the "Comments" field contain a variety of information that may not fit specifically into the fields chosen for this table, such as: economic class, occupation or guild membership ("merchant" or "craftsman," etc., ), type of merchant (1st Guild, etc.), date registered as a merchant, town where registered, when and under what guild number the certificate was issued, number of people in family, and amount of taxes paid in silver rubles.

The databases or tables included within this Tax table include various kinds of taxes in the community, including state and local taxes.

Box Tax

A tax on Kosher meat also called the "puske" or "kupah" tax was collected throughout the Jewish community and used to pay for its various social needs. These lists always give family, first name and father's names of the head of each household of the community. Sometimes the number of family members, occupation, and financial status is indicated. Rarely other members of household are listed.

Jewish communities, not towns, collected these box and Candle taxes. In 1844, 119 former kahals were combined into 74 new Jewish communities for the purpose of collecting these taxes.

Candle Tax

A tax on Sabbath candles was used for the needs of Jewish education and lists exist for almost all Jewish communities in Kaunas Guberniya. Most of the lists are for 1846, 1877, 1892, and 1904, and for some communities for 1908 and 1912. Usually, the record did not state how the tax was collected or who collected it. Very few details were given. The list of taxpayers was usually broken down by "well-to-do families," "average families," and "poor families."

Real Estate & Property

The listing of real estate tax payers often yields some information about the specific property, such as its size, estimated value, and the taxation due. Sometimes the type of real estate of possession, whether ownership, leasehold, or rental is established, and how.

Merchants List

This is a list of the merchants (of 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd classes) who were permitted to trade in a district and may include the entire family. Many times Merchants were not listed in general family or tax payer lists.

Real Estate Owners List

There are many kinds of real estate owner's lists, with varying amounts of information. Some are quite detailed, noting the documentation that proves ownership, exactly what is owned and how the property is used, as well as any liens against the property, the value of the property, and a full listing of the entire family living on the property. Some give only the surname and name of the owner. Within this category of files are lists of Jews "who illegally owned property belonging to Christians."

Petition for Mikva Maintenance

A petition signed by the men of the town, requesting permission to use the Box Tax proceeds to maintain the local Mikva.

Care of Needy members of community

Despite the fact that most of our ancestors were not rich, in the tradition of Tsedakah (Charity) they always looked out for those less fortunate.

VOTERS LISTS are made up from: 

• Electors Lists  -  These were any electors list in which the type is not indicated, just marked as people having participated in some type of voting. 

• State Duma Electors List  -  Jewish men over the age of 25 and of sufficient economic or social status were allowed to vote in the Russian Empire Parliamentary Elections in 1905, 1906, 1907, and 1912. Lists of those eligible were published.  

• List of Electors of Representatives to Local Municipalities  -  This is similar to the rabbi's electors lists. Sometimes this type of list, along with other electors lists and candle and box tax payers lists, may be the only surviving genealogical information for a town.  

• Rabbi's Electors List  -  This was a list of the permanent town dwellers who had a right to participate in the election. This list usually includes the family name, the first name and father's name or patronymic, and often the age.  

• Residents List  -  While similar to the Electors List, the Residents List often lacks ages, and no women or children are listed. It may be different in form and made for various purposes.  It is sometimes easy to determine family relationships because of comments such as "gave proxy vote to ....... "