Are you using Deeds and Land Records in your research?

Question

Deeds and Land Records and be a great source of genealogical information. While it does take some work to tease out the information the results can be very rewarding.

What tips and techniques have you used to bring you great rewards?

Comments

I'd like to hear more about where people are finding deeds and wills.  I have found them by going to a genealogical library, but I can only do that on occasion.   Are there any good places/techniques for looking online without a subscription?  

Reba

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Most libraries have the free library edition of Ancestry.com

When you find a deed or will and click on image , in the upper right hand corner, you see a green save button. Click that and chose send document home. You can email the document to yourself, open it when you get home and save on your own computer drive files

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Some counties have all of their deeds online, not just the modern ones.  Buncombe County, NC is one such, with an index.  Madison and Yancey Counties in NC have the deed images online, but the old ones aren't necessarily indexed and you have to know the book and page number to see the image.  It's always worth checking to see if a county you are interested in has all their deeds online.

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Visit your local Public Library.  They should have an active subscription to AncestryLibrary.com where you can gain access to several databases free of charge.

Answer 1

Keep checking deed indexes for long after you think your people were dead, or had moved elsewhere.  Thanks to a well-prepared index, I found a deed from 1875 that listed all the heirs of a man who had died about 40 years earlier.

Comments

Wow, that sounds like a great find.  Keep digging!

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Absolutely! I have found 200+ yrs. old that even include boundary measurements. They are key to providing exact locations of your ancestors.

Answer 2

Map your deeds!  Whether you do it the old-fashioned way with compass and protractor, or use software, you will learn an amazing amount about where your people lived.  Who were the neighboring families (that they probably married into)?  How did land ownership change over the generations? Were your people small scale land speculators?

Answer 3

Yes and no. I've had opportunities to obtain copies of land and deed records, which would have been able to fill in some gaps as it relates to where families moved, what land they purchased and owned, and when they sold it and presumably moved on - however, most of the records I've wanted have been in states where they won't do research, aren't online, and require you to go to them and do your own searching. Frustrating.

I did find a local researcher and I think I might have asked her for too much, as when she laid out the 30-40 records she was aware of in the files, and then asked me which ones I was most interested in, I told her my top 10, then also said "all" would be useful. I never heard back. So I'm going to apparently have to wait until I can make a 300 mile trip to the county courthouse to do my own research... one of these days.

Answer 4

Land records are how I proved the parents of REUBEN James, the Naval hero and as far as I can determine, wikitree is the only site so far that has proved his parents

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/James-13308

Comments

Ho so Eddie?  What proved the connection for you?  What was the land record?

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The land record is on the profile at the end of the bio. It says that Reuben James, sailor, and his brother Noble, sons of Reuben James, deceased , are indenturing their lands and the leasor is named. A second land record also names Reuben James, brother of Noble and son of Reuben, deceased. A will abstract for Reuben senior names his wife and children. The land records specifically identify Reuben as the sailor

Answer 5

I use deeds and similar transactions quite a bit in my research. Some deeds provide direct evidence of relationships ( ... sold land "to Josiah my youngest son ..." ), or provide hints for spouses of children, siblings, nieces/nephews, grandchildren, etc.

In early Colonial times, it was sometimes a practice to sell land/houses to a child, or to potential or current in-laws as part of the dower process. Some of those transactions explicitly state the reason for the sale.

In particular, there are thousands of deeds (images of originals or transcriptions) available online (free) at familysearch.org. As an example, I've posted information regarding searching the indices and deeds for Suffolk Co., Massachusetts:

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/565105/suffolk-county-massachusetts-deeds-online

Similar to probate of estates, deeds were legal documents and can be considered as primary sources.

Comments

Good info Bruce.  Are you citing any of these on your profiles?

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Not yet. I've gotten myself caught up in gathering all the will and probate records which are similarly available on familysearch.org. Too much information to discover and digest.

Answer 6

I have found http://www.archivesindex.sc.gov/ to be especially useful for land records and wills in Colonial South Carolina.  The land grants awarded in the 1700's usually included plats (which would show an actual surveyors drawing and the neighbors at the time of the survey), the grant and the memorial (when the land grant was actually transferred, after the grantee had fulfilled the requirements).  The wills will show a transcription of the will.

Comments

Good find, thanks for sharing Joseph!