PERSONAL PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENT RECORDS MASTER INDEX GUIDELINES

Tax assessments on land and/or personal property were generally done every five years in Kansas.  These records can prove residency during years when federal census records are not available, such as 1890 and those from 1955 onward.  For residences, the records generally include a physical description of the land, assets of the owner such as livestock, crop information, vehicles, and household items owned, etc. The records can provide a good picture of life in that particular year.  For businesses, equipment is sometimes listed as well as details of operation. 

OCHS does hold all of the Osage County assessment records from 1950 through 1975 when the County Assessor had the task of calling upon each owner.  We also have partial records of various towns and townships from 1919 to 1927.  Because of privacy issues, we must ask for proof of direct family relationship before we copy the records from 1950 through 1975.  We could attest to general information requests in a written summary, however.

OCHS holdings also include the transcriptions of the actual records of the townships of Burlingame, Dragoon, Ridgeway and Superior for 1890.  This work was done by a professional genealogist, Arlene Jennings, whose families were among the earliest settlers in Burlingame. Our grateful thanks to Arlene for having done this work and our inspiration for the remainder of this project.  The earliest Osage County tax records are very fragile and currently held by the Schuyler Museum in Burlingame, Kansas.

The index columns are arranged in the following order:  NAME (of business, organization, or residence), CITY or TOWNSHIP, YEAR of census, PAGE #, NUMBER IN FAMILY, DATE OF BIRTH, AGE.  If a column space is blank or has all zeros, the information was not collected on that particular year.  Please include all of this information in your request as well as proof of your relationship.

The fee for the 1890 Jennings transcriptions is $5.00 which includes search time, copies and postage.  The fee for the search of actual (1919-1927, 1950-1975) records is $5.00 which includes search time and postage.  Since nearly all of these documents are of legal (8 ½ x 14) size, the cost of each page is .50 added to the search time and postage.  The OCHS researcher will advise of the total costs before proceeding with the copy work.

Requests can be made by telephone, 785-828-3477 (leave message), 785-220-3839 or 620-340-2347; postal mail, OCHS, PO Box 361, Lyndon KS 66451; or e-mail at osagechs@gmail.com.  Payment can be made by check or money order.  Copies will be mailed upon receipt of payment.