NEAT DISCOVERIES CAN HIDE IN LAND RECORDS
- Local land records are located in the county where the land is/was situated at the time of
the transaction. Keep in mind that county lines changed, usually at least once, if not
twice. This means you should keep going, checking adjacent counties.
- Always start land searches with the indexes.
- The deeds to read are:
First transaction you can find in the county (grantee), often provides place of former residency.
Last transaction you can find in the county (grantor), will often provide place of current residency.
Quit claim deeds, may have a family connection.
"et el", may have a family connection
"et ux", will give the wife’s given name
Deeds listed in the grantor index will give the wife’s given name or the Dower’s release will
give this information.
Look for an ancestor in the index at about age 21, about the time of marriage, and again
around the time of death.
Check witnesses, perhaps they are relatives? A witness had to be of legal age (ie. usually 21).
Check acknowledgements for clues.
Check the number of transactions; a clue to a person’s wealth.
Excessive transactions may indicate that the person was a land speculator.
Check deeds where "dec" and "est" appear after a grantor’s name in the index.
Partition deeds, usually an estate settlement, sometimes one deed or possibly several, one for each heir.
Separate deeds might occur when the heirs live in different counties. Estates may include land in other states.
- Deeds can help you place an ancestor in a county before a census is available and/or in
between census years.
- Land may be deeded to a son for care and support, often times the youngest son.
- Some deeds (especially true in New England) list occupations.
- Use the date the deed was written for your proof. Deeds are usually indexed by the date
recorded. There can be many years difference.
- Sometimes deeds never got recorded, or sometimes never got restored (re-recorded) after a
disaster, such as a courthouse fire.
- Land records are (believed to be) the largest group of records filmed by LDS.
- Deeds are one of the oldest records available and are public record.
- Also, don’t forget to use tax lists, especially the farther back you go.
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