John Riley Collects Poll Tax

My second great-grandfather John Riley Deweese served as Welch Township Republican Committee Chairman in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri for most of his adult life. Besides holding party caucuses in his home, John Riley served as Road Commissioner in the 1910s. Residents mostly traversed the roads by horse and buggy.

One of the mechanisms governments used to collect fees for road maintenance was a poll tax. Poll taxes no longer exist because they are viewed as an impediment to voting. If the voter does not have money for the taxes, they will stay home. I 1918, poll taxes were still legal.

November 5, 1918, John Riley Deweese collected the poll tax for District 19 in Welch Township. John Riley collected $696 from residents for the maintainance of county roads. Each voter paid $4 poll tax.

John Riley noted in his ledger several residents had gone to the Army during World War I. John Bovers, Carl Bick, Marion Evan, Clarence Hedge, Harry Hector, A. J. Maag, Isaac Myers, P. J. Pittman, Ray Penturf, Jacob Schultz and John Snider all left to serve their country.

67-year-old John Riley Deweese would continue to serve as Road Commissioner until the early 1920s. On February 23, 1928, John Riley Deweese passed away at 77 år.

His wife Malinda would continue to live on their farm until 1942. In her late eighties, Malinda moved to the city of Cape Girardeau, where she passed away on January 22, 1843. She passed away three weeks after her 89th birthday.

Poll taxes have faded into history as has John Riley Deweese. John Riley’s book survives and preserves this period in history. Historical documents like his ledger are the treasure maps for genealogists and historians.

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