Tracing Land Ownership

Land Research | Deeds-Land District 13 | Worksheets showing adjoining land |Maps of area| Ownership-Land District 13 |Ownership-Land District 12 | Ownership-Land District 10
 
 

Tracing land ownership provides important genealogical clues. It is hard work though! George Watkins shares his work in hopes that others may benefit from locating names they are related to.

These Land Districts were in the "original Baldwin county", and the deeds generally refer to this. When this "Original Baldwin" area was divided into counties, most of the area became southern Jasper County, but a triangle of land ended up in Jones County.

As you know Land Lots and Land Districts did not change their numbering system once they were established.

These sheets give the history of each land lot in and bordering the 13th District of Jones Co. The history begins with the land lottery of 1807 and list the ownership of each land lot up to the present (1999). Where the deed records were not available, some blanks were filled in by using tax records. This becomes possible when enough information is known form the deed records, as the tax records list only one adjoining land owner. If smith is listed with 202 ac, and Jones is the adjoining land owner, it becomes possible to locate smith's land if Jones land is known, and all of his other neighbors are known.

Procedure

I have one of these for 1815,1820,25,30,35,40,45,50,55,60,&1870. All the blanks are not filled in for every sheet for every year, but it is very complete.

 Where land records did not exist, I have augmented my work with the tax records. This became possible once I had my graphic sheets nearly complete. For instance, the tax record for 1820 might show Jones with 202ac adjoining Smith. That becomes much more significant if my sheet shows Smith's lot and if I show the owners in all but one lot surrounding Smith. It then becomes possible to know which lot belonged to Jones. 

Story Behind the Research

My Grandmother, Estelle Avera Holloway, died in 1953 trying to prove that her Great-grandmother Mary Boynton, Wife of Jesse Glawson, was the Daughter of Stoddard Boynton. Stoddard's Father, Amos Boynton, was a Revolutionary War soldier from New Hampshire, and My Grandmother so wanted to join the DAR. She was not able to prove that, however, and she died without becoming a member of the DAR.

When I became interested in genealogy in the late 1980s, completing what she had begun became a priority. I had proof that Mary Boynton married Jesse Glawson in Jones Co. Using deed records and tax records, I determined that Stoddard and Jesse were close neighbors, and that upon the death of Stoddard, Jesse's land holdings increased by the exact number of acres that had been owned by Stoddard.

I was told by a highly regarded genealogist that if I could prove that the land that Jesse had somehow gained upon the death of Stoddard was in fact Stoddard,s former land, that I would have the proof that I needed. Proof that Jesse had inherited Stoddard's land by right of his wife Mary Boynton.

Unfortunately, no deed records or estate records could be found that proved this. That left me with the task of following that land through successive owners until I could identify that land as Stoddard's former land. The land had somehow changed hands from Jesse Glawson into the possession of the White Family, and become entangled in first the estate of Elizabeth White and later her Son Joseph C. White.

I had to follow an obscure trail up to almost the present day in order to secure the proof that I needed. In the process of elimination that I had to go through, I was forced to learn so much about the entire area, that I decided to just do the research for the entire area. I had to work from the 1807 land lottery winners forward, and from the present day backward. Since much of the land now belongs to the US Forest Service, and to the Piedmont Wildlife Refuge, I had to seek assistance from both of these government agencies. Both were very gracious, and opened their records to me, thus providing great assistance in the process of working backward from the present. Now that I have all this information, it seems logical to share it, in the hope that someone else will find it useful.
George H Watkins

Web Master: Virginia Crilley 2000
Eileen B. McAdams 2009