RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees No. 29 [an error occurred while processing this directive]

Frog RootsWeb's Guide to
Tracing Family Trees

 

Guide No. 29

Chalkboafd

American Land Records

 

 

 

 

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Where Two White Oaks Used to Grow:
A Case Study in Using a Computer to Unpuzzle the 'Metes and Bounds' of Your Ancestors' Land — And Finding It
by Richard A. Pence

 

 

 

Genealogical Riches in The American State Papers

 

 

Early Federal Land Records

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Land Records on the Internet

 

 

 

 

1895 U.S. Atlas

 

 

 

 

USGS Geographic Names Information System: United States and Territories

 

 

 

 

 

 

Microfilm Microfilm

Microfilm Copies of Old Land Records

 

 

Computer

Land Record Reference: Direct Line Software

 

 

Acquiring U.S. Land

 

 

Books Relating to Land Records

 

Printer Friendly Version

 

 

The descent of land is the purest proof of lineage. — Jo White Linn. "Gotcha: Positive Identification Through the Use of Deeds," a lecture given at National Genealogical Society, Arlington, Virginia, June 1990.

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Land records are valuable for genealogical research. They provide evidence of places where our ancestor lived and for how long, when he moved into or out of a locality, at least the given name of his wife, and sometimes a surprising amount of detailed information about him.

Deed Book According to William Dollarhide in Retracing the Trails of Your Ancestors Using Deed Records, nine out of 10 adult white males in America owned land before 1850 and even today the figure is more than 50 percent. There is a countywide surname index to virtually every landowner in America since the early 1600s and it is more complete than any head-of-household census index ever compiled. This means you are most likely to find information about your ancestors in American land records.

 

So, where's the dirt?

 

Farm Scene

Deed Book American land records are often an overlooked resource. Not every family historian initially understands their importance, assuming they are just dry descriptions of the acreage of the land. They are that, however, there can be found some interesting tidbits tucked away in those dusty deeds.

Deed Book You can search land records to try to determine when your ancestor arrived and left any given area. Often when a man purchased land in a new area his former county/state of residence would be mentioned in the grantee deed. This helps you to trace his migration pattern backward — hopefully to his county/state of birth and all the stops along the way.

Deed BookMany times a family would move on before being able to sell its property. In such instances the new residence's location will be mentioned in the old county's deed books when the land is sold. This will give you critical information with which to continue your search and also provide evidence that the John Case who sold 150 acres in Greenbrier County, Virginia in August of 1838 is probably the same John Case who purchases 200 acres in Darke County, Ohio in June of that year. This information can be extremely helpful if you have lost an ancestor between censuses.

Deed BookRelationships are another benefit to be found in land records, sometimes. For instance, you might discover a deed that indicates a father is selling to a son; a mother selling to her children before she marries again; or a man selling to his brother-in-law. There are also times when the descriptions of the land will include relationships. This was especially true when the description was done using chains and rods, which required including the names of the owners of adjacent properties. While relationships may not appear, the names themselves may prove familiar and useful to you.

Deed BookLand records generally have two types of indexes. The grantor index is an index to those who are selling the land and the grantee index is an index to those who are buying the land. This is your first stop when beginning to work with land records. Many of these are on microfilm and can be accessed through your local Family History Center. Such records are found on the county level in most states. However, the New England states are the exception to this rule. They have their land records either at the town level or by land district.

Deed Book Deeds, grants and patents all follow a particular form.
See A Typical Deed.

Finding land records

Deed Book If you know the county-state, start with a search in that locality's grantor (seller) and grantee (buyer) index. Be sure to look in both. Most of these indexes include the name of the person buying the land and the name of the person selling the land, followed by a brief description of the land, two or more columns for dates (date of the instrument, date it was recorded, etc.), and a column for the volume and page number where full entry is found in the deed books.

Deed Book Take this information and go through the individual volumes of deeds (in person or on microfilm). Once you find the deed in question it is a good idea to make a photocopy of it. You never know when you will need to refer to it. Never assume that a name on a deed is unimportant. You will be surprised how often these names eventually tie together.

MicrofilmAll county records are usually located in the office of the clerk of the county where the transaction occurred. Deeds, leases and mortgages are usually indexed, and many of the indexes and actual records have been filmed by the Family History Library. Also, subscribers to Heritage Quest can borrow rolls of microfilm to read deed indexes and transcripts.

Public Land states vs.
State Land states

Deed Book State Land states include the 13 original colonies (Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia), plus the five states formed from the territories of those colonies (Maine, Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia), and Texas and Hawaii.In these 20 state land states, the land is surveyed by metes and bounds.

 

METES AND BOUNDS SURVEYS "Metes" refers to the measurement of boundaries of a tract of land by direction (given in degrees, minutes, and seconds) and distance. "Bounds" refers to physical objects such as trees, creeks, and adjacent tracts of land. Here is an example of a metes and bounds description:

Beginning at a white oak head of branch that falls into Difficult. North 85 degrees West 54 poles to white oak side of branch. South 19 degrees West 220 poles to white oak in poison field. South 64 degrees East 110 poles to red oak on a levell [sic]. North 6 degrees East 254 poles to the beginning. [Mitchell, Beginning at a White Oak . . . The Patents and Northern Neck Grants of Fairfax County, Virginia. (Fairfax, Va.: McGregor and Werner, 1977), p. 6.

Deed Book Metes and bounds descriptions can be confusing at first when you try to plat them. Fortunately, there are software programs to help with this. One such program, is Deed Mapper by Direct Line Software. This program allows you to do analysis of old deeds, leases, surveys, roads, claims, grants and patents and lets you plot the land description and work with it. One of the features is the ability to drag the plotted land description onto a map of the area being researched. This is an excellent way to get a feel for where your ancestor was in respect to others and to be able to plot the land of all those in the family who were in a particular locality. It enables you to see their proximity to each other and to the rest of the town or county.

Computer Computer Programs for Drawing Plat Maps

 

Map Click to see
Allegheny County, Pa.
Township Map

 

Ball Land and Legal Terminology

Deed Book Public land states. When the U.S. federal government was formed, all land outside the 13 original states and the five states later formed from them was ceded to the federal government and became known as the public domain. Thirty states were formed from the public domain and are known as public land states. They are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The public land states use the Rectangular Survey System.

 

RECTANGULAR SURVEY SYSTEM

The 30 public land states are divided into 37 separate survey systems, each beginning with an initial point from which a base line runs east-west and a principal meridian (P.M.) runs north-south. Secondary east-west lines six miles apart lie east and west of the P.M. and are called range lines.

These intersect to form townships six miles square. Townships are described by the number of the tier north or south of the base line and by the number of the range east or west of the P.M., such as Township 3 South, Range 1 East, or T3S, R1E.

Land Sections


Each township is divided into one square mile sections numbered one through 36, starting in the upper right corner. Each section contains 640 acres and may be further subdivided into half-section (320 acres), quarter section (160 acres), half-quarter section (80 acres), or quarter-quarter section (40 acres). A complete legal land description should refer to the subdivision of the section, township, range, and the name or number of the Principal Meridian (P.M.); for example, Southwest quarter of Section 36, Township 3 South, Range 1 East of the Sixth Principal Meridian; or, SW1/4 S36, T3S, R1E, 6th P.M.

Computer General Land Office Project of Bureau of Land Management Eastern States (BLM)

 

 

Deed Book Working with rectangular survey lands can take some imagination to picture the square that is your ancestor's. However, if you turn to plat maps, you will find that you can then see where he was in the grand scheme of things. And, best of all, you don't have to find a map of the actual date that your ancestor was living there. In the rectangular survey the townships and ranges and sections have remained the same. This means, for example, you can rent a microfilmed plat map atlas for your county through your local Family History Center and even if the map were created in 1978 you will still be able to locate the correct section and quarter that your ancestor owned a hundred years ago.

Deed Book Learn to read these legal land descriptions backwards. First, determine the township and range. Then look for this specific township and range combination in the plat book. Next turn your attention to the section number. Once you have located it, divide that section into four quarters and you can then determine which part is your ancestor's.

Deed Book Your ancestor might have owned an entire quarter or half of a section. More often though, he will own a quarter of a quarter. Read the legal description so that by working backward you go from the largest division (township and range) to the smallest.

Deed Book Deeds and plat maps provide an insight into how your ancestor fit, geographically, into the town and/or county, and show how much land he owned at any given time. Take the time to work with these records and you may find yourself rewarded with an understanding of the land he owned, who was living around him, and who his heirs were.

Who's got the dower?

LadyDower rights came from the English common law system and were followed in the American colonies, continuing in most states well into the 19th century. Many deeds, especially early ones, include a sworn statement by an officer of the court saying that the wife was interviewed privately and agreed to relinquish her dower rights. The dower right of any validly married woman was established as soon as her husband became possessed of an estate in real property that could be inherited by his children. A married woman owned an immediate and conveyable interest in all her husband's lands during his lifetime, but no title to any portion of them. However, he could not legally dispose of the land without her consent, and if he did so, she could bring suit to recover the value of her one-third interest from the person who had received title to the land from her husband. It is because the wife's dower interest extended to one-third of all of her husband's lands that it was required by law in many colonies and states that she relinquish dower interest in any parcels he sold during coverture [state of being a married woman; the duration of the marriage] in order to convey a clear title to the buyer.

TYPICAL RELEASE OF DOWER

And the said Patsy Standerfer wife of the said Benjamin Standerfer having been by me examined separate and apart and out of the hearing of her husband, and the contents and meaning of the said instrument of writing having been by me fully made known and explained to her and she also by me being fully informed of her rights under the Homestead Laws of this State, acknowledged that she had freely and voluntarily executed the same, relinquished her dower & interest to the lands and tenements therein mentioned, and also all her rights and advantages under and by virtue of all laws of this State relating to the exemption of Homestead, without compulsion of her said husband, and that she does not wish to retract the same.

 

USA There are different types of American records which were created in the buying and selling or granting of land. Much of land research pertains to deeds, which are found on the county level, and most of the time the results of your search will be descriptions of the land and perhaps the given name of the spouse. However, you might also learn:

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How the wife received the land (perhaps she inherited from her parents)

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Names of all the children as she sold or deeded her land to them

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Names of other heirs, including cousins, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren

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Family residences elsewhere

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That there's a moonshiner in the family and your ancestor had to mortgage the farm in order to post a bond.

It is a gamble when you begin to search the land records as to what exactly you will find, but it is never dull research.

Bounty land records
USA There are more land records than just county deeds. For example, bounty land records can be a major help to genealogists. See Guide 14: U.S. Military Records. Because bounty land was given as payment for service, it is not as limited as a simple deed. Among the information you might find in these records are:
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Ancestor's age

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Ancestor's birth place

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Residences

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Place of enlistment

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Length of service

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Rank

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Copies of wills

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Pages from family Bible

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Dates of marriages and deaths

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Letters from neighbors

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Letters from family members

USAAnother often-overlooked bounty land record is the one found on the state level. Service in the Revolutionary War and after was the general criterion for the states awarding bounty land. Sometimes the information found in these state bounty records can help replace records lost in burned courthouses or other missing records. Primarily, it is the state land states that have these records. Louisiana also gave bounty land to those who fought in the War of 1812.

USA Bounty Land Warrants for Military Service in the War of 1812

USAAt the Official Federal Land Patent Records website is the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), General Land Office (GLO) Records Automation information. It provides live database access to federal land conveyance records for the Public Land States. Image access is provided to more than 2 million federal land title records for Eastern Public Land States, issued between 1820 and 1908.

USA Here's a sampling for land records and/or information about them on the Web:

Ball Georgia Department of Archives & History's Bounty Land Grants, Headrights, and Land Lottery records
Ball Federal Land Records in Idaho
Ball Family Data in Idaho Carey Act Records
Ball Tennessee
Ball Texas
Ball Virginia Patent Index and Images
Ball Bureau of Land Management Geographic Coordinate Data Base and Project Offices



Cyndi's List
for more links to:
Land Records, Deeds, Homesteads, etc.

 

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Books Suggested Reading
& References
Land & Property Research in the United States
by E. Wade Hone
(Salt Lake City: Ancestry, Incorporated, 1997).

 

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Dot RootsWeb Guides to Tracing Family Trees are written & compiled by professional genealogists Julia M. Case, Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG & Rhonda McClure


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