Paul,
I certainly can sympathize with your difficulties in working with the deed record.
As I said previously it’s not a simple black and white story and I can get in over my head in a hurry. Larry may be gritting his teeth already. “But”
I assume this discussion was triggered by the SMJ article that was posted by “Goldmine”.
We see the following entry in regard to the Waltz and Andrew Starrar agreement:
August 8, 1878. Book 3 pages 222, 223, and 224 of the Maricopa County Recorders Book of Deeds, records Jacob Waltz and his neighbor, Andrew Starrar as entering into an agreement whereby Andrew Starrar promises to take care of Waltz and see to his needs should Waltz become incapacitated and unable to care for himself. In return, should the time ever come, Waltz promises to relinquish to Starrar, all of his worldly possessions plus the sum of $50.
It appears to me that the author is suggesting that the agreement only goes into effect should the time ever come that Waltz became incapacitated. Did you find the word incapacitated anywhere in the deed record or something similar to support this angle? We can wait until you transcribe the document.
BTW it sounds like the author also has Waltz paying Andrew Starrar $50. Is that the way you interpret the document?
Paul, you wrote:
If indeed that's the case that Waltz was no longer responsible for paying taxes on his land, it appears that Andrew Starar was responsible for NOT paying the taxes in 1886 and causing the land to be sold.
I want to make a couple of points that are taken from my understanding on the history of the Waltz land. I didn’t dig out the sources and I’m shooting from the hip but we are probably getting ahead of ourselves when we say that Andrew Starrar was responsible for the taxes on the land in 1886. I believe Andrew died in 1883 or 1884 and we now introduce his brother Jacob Starrar into the story.
Also it is my understanding that the land was not disposed of by the Starrars as a single 160 acre parcel. I believe the land was sold off piecemeal over a number of years.
A great supplement to the Starrar/Waltz agreement is the Magdeberg Will. I think someone mentioned Jabob’s horses that appear in the agreement. Waltz appears to have only had these animals in passing and they were part of the estate of Magdeberg which was passed on to Andrew Starrar by Waltz. It also talks about Magdeberg’s barley crop which also became Starrar's property.
Another entry in the SMJ article may also be misleading some people. The author wrote:
May 1878. Jacob Waltz is recorded in the 1878 Maricopa County Tax Rolls as having personal property valued at $250 property described as 160 acres of land. Waltz is recorded as making a payment of $7.12
There is a difference in tax on personal property (a horse) and tax on real estate (plot of land). I don’t remember having seen the document that is being referred to but it makes no sense to me that the personal property of Waltz is described as 160 acres of land.
Maybe someone can post an image of the actual document since it seems to be the seed for much of the preceding discussion.
Enough already,
Garry