In early Virginia, one of the duties of the sheriff was to collect public, county, and often parish levies. This was also the case in Fairfax County, where GW's estate at Mount Vernon was located. Most dues and levies were paid in tobacco throughout the colonial period. So, one of the account holders appearing in GW's ledgers includes "Sheriffs of Fairfax County". The debit side of these accounts often reflect the payments made to sheriffs in tobacco and other currency, while the credit side typically showed  the charges for parish and county levies. For instance, the debit side of Ledger A, 99, shows a payment of both cash and tobacco to John West, Jr., who served as sheriff of Fairfax County from 1759 to 1761. Another example is illustrated in Ledger A, 293, where we see that GW settled the charges for parish and county levies in 1769 with 3,903 pounds of tobacco and £3.12 in cash.   GW also often reflected the payments he made to sheriffs in his cash accounts. In Ledger, A, 146, GW notes that he paid taxes to Fairfax County sheriff, William Payne, in June 1762.