Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 7, Number 2, May 1997 Page: 86
[68] p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal
these to last until May 1. The second census contained 64 names. Families were again paid
between $10 and $40, but the court also ordered that one woman, Ann Howat, be provided
with a rented house. They also specified that the family of anyone working in the service
of the government as a teamster was not eligible for support, and imposed a huge tax
increase (25 cents per $100) to help pay for the war. The third list of dependent families,
filed in April, contained 70 names. Some families were to receive as much as $100. The
number of dependent families kept rising, from 89 in August, to 96 in November, to 119
in February 1864, to a high of 220 in February 1865. The final list, filed with the court on
April 3, 1865, contained 156 families.'7
As the rolls of dependent families swelled, taxes continued to rise. On May 18,
1863, the county imposed an additional tax of 5.25 cents per $100 valuation to be used
specifically to support soldiers' dependents. For the same reason, on January 3, 1865, the
court ordered certain merchants and professionals to pay annual fees and, for some, a kind
of sales tax. Wholesale merchants were required to pay $150 and retail merchants, $50.
Both also had to pay one-half of one percent of annual gross sales. Retail liquor dealers were
required to pay a $100 fee plus 2.5 % of gross sales. Druggists, auctioneers, peddlers, cotton
compressors, warehousers, and ferry operators had to pay a flat fee of $50 per year. For
slave traders, and pool hall and bowling alley operators, the fee was $100. Lawyers and
doctors were assessed annual fees of $10, plus 1 % of annual gross receipts. Hotel and livery
stable keepers had to pay $25; restauranteurs, half that much. Butchers had to pay only $5,
but every employee of a railroad, from the president on down, had to pay $10, and the
railroad itself, one-fourth of one percent of gross receipts. Stagecoach lines were taxed at
50 cents per mile of route inside the county's
In an effort to use the money more efficiently, in February 1865, the county
began buying certain necessities at a fixed rate and distributing them to the dependent fami-
lies. Despite the county's attempt to save money via more efficient purchasing, and the
directly visible use to which the increased taxes were being put, several merchants balked.
In March, a number of merchants presented a petition to the commissioners stipulating that
the new taxes levied against them were too high and ought to be reduced. The court refused,
on the grounds that reducing the tax on merchants would be unfair to the others who had
been taxed, but did, in response to another request, exempt one hotel keeper, Gideon W.
Cottingham, from the tax because he had been using his hotel, the Colorado Anchor House,
as a home for two soldiers.'9
17 Colorado County Police [Commissioners] Court Minutes, Book 1862-1876, pp. 5-6, 10-13, 18,
21; Colorado County Marriage Records, Book C, pp. [67-75].
18 Colorado County Police [Commissioners] Court Minutes, Book 1862-1876, pp. 15, 33.
19 Colorado County Police [Commissioners] Court Minutes, Book 1862-1876, pp. 35, 36.86
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Nesbitt Memorial Library. Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 7, Number 2, May 1997, periodical, May 1997; Columbus, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth151400/m1/14/?q=nesbitt+memorial+library+journal: accessed June 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Nesbitt Memorial Library.