land records - wnygs.org

WNYGS Mtg. -‐ 5/16/2015 5/28/15

Presented by James Lawson. All rights reserved. 1

LAND RECORDS

Another way to search your ancestors

James Lawson

LAND RECORD MISCONCEPTIONS

Misconception:

§  They are cryptic and hard to understand

§  They contain little or no genealogical value

§  My ancestor probably didn’t owned land

Fact:

§  Most numerous records in existence

§  The most poorly understood

§  Least used resource for genealogical research

§  The availability of land was a motivating factor in immigration

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WHY USE LAND RECORDS?

1.  One of the reasons they came to America

2.  Revolutionary War soldiers were given land as compensation for fighting

3.  Land was a valuable asset and a status symbol

4.  Great care was taken to keep records of property ownership and transfers

5.  Your ancestors wanted to have legal proof that their land belongs to them

6.  May not have filed birth or death certificates right away but they made sure a land transaction was documented

WHAT CAN LAND RECORDS SHOW US?

•  Help us to prove ancestry and family relationships

•  Point you to other relatives that may have also been involved in land transactions

•  Tells us about the lives of our ancestors

•  Use the information to identify nearby churches, cemeteries, schools, or courthouse

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WHAT ELSE CAN LAND RECORDS TELL US?

•  When and where our ancestor bought or sold land

•  Anchor your ancestor in time and place

•  May confirm your ancestors age and occupation

•  Identify the wife or in-laws of your ancestor

•  Help to establish death dates

•  Find statements of relationships

•  Point us to new research paths

HOW DID YOUR ANCESTORS OBTAIN LAND?

Land was often granted (given or sold) to individuals for a variety of reasons:

Ø As an enticement to settle or to bring others to settle

Ø As a reward for enlistment/service in the military

Ø From the result of a lottery

Ø Most often land (or partials of land) were passed down from father to son

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PROCEDURE FOR ACQUIRING LAND

o  Ancestors filed an application (or petition) when they wished to purchase land

o  Application contained the name, age, country of citizenship, military service if any

o  When the application was approved your ancestor would receive a warrant

o  They would then request a survey of the area he had been granted

FOR ANY PIECE OF LAND, YOU WILL LOOK FOR TWO TRANSFERS

1. Acquisition -When the land came into your ancestors possession.

2. Disposition – When the land left your ancestor’s possession.

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TYPES OF ACQUISITION

Patent or Grant

Quitclaim

Inheritance by will

Inheritance by intestacy

Silent inheritance

Court Suit

Division/Partition

Assignment

TYPES OF DISPOSITIONS

Quitclaim

Will Intestacy

Silent inheritance

Court Suit

Division/Partition

Assignment

Escheatment

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DEEDS

A deed is a document used to transfer title or ownership from one person to another, just like we do today with

cars, and other property.

Most land transfers were by deeds between two individuals

and were recorded in deed books

Deeds often convey more than one parcel of land

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THE SEVEN PARTS OF A DEED

Preface

Parties

Payment

Property

Provenance

Postlude

Process

PREFACE

•  Clerk’s index notation of the deed

•  May hold useful information

•  Give the names of the parties (helpful if names are illegible in the deed)

•  Will tell you what type of document it is, such as deed, mortgage, quitclaim, agreement, etc

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Preface

PARTIES

•  Names of the BUYER and SELLER

•  Today they are called Grantor and Grantee

•  Older terms are ‘Party of the first part’ and ‘Party of the second part’

•  This section contains statements of relationships

•  Watch for; place of residence, occupation, name of wife, name of deceased if any

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Parties

PAYMENT

•  The term generally used for payment is consideration

•  A sum of money is not always specified

•  Sometimes payment was given in trade

•  If it’s not found don’t assume it was a gift, some people wanted their financial business kept private

•  Amount is usually found after the names

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Payment

PROPERTY

•  A detailed description of the property, including acreage and the name of the county seat

•  Deeds often convey more than one parcel of land (easy to miss if you aren’t careful)

•  This is the most tedious part of the deed and contains the most errors

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Property

PROVENANCE

•  Gives a history of the land

•  If the seller is the original owner then a detailed description of how he acquired the land will be given here

•  The history of the land may reveal more ancestors if the land stayed in the family

•  Sometimes called the chain of title

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Provenance

POSTLUDE

•  Following the long and tedious description of the land is an equally long and tedious section of legalese

•  A variety of restrictions on sale and use of the land may be found here

•  Watch especially for family-related information such as preservation of cemetery or provisions for an elderly parent or widow

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Postlude

PROCESS

•  This tells the process by which the land will be transferred

•  The date the property is legally transferred

•  If there is any other considerations to be considered

•  Included will be the witnesses, signatures and acknowledgements of payment and deed

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WITNESSES

•  The reason for a witness is to protect both the buyer and the seller

•  Not all deeds are witnessed

•  Look for family members to serve as witnesses, but this was not always the case

•  If you see the word ‘affirm’ think Quaker. Quakers didn’t “swear” oaths

•  While women rarely bought or sold land they did witness deeds

Jim Lawson – kindredquest.com

SIGNATURES

•  Some signatures on documents in deed books may not have been written by your ancestors

•  If your ancestor couldn’t write his name, look for an X followed by ‘signed with a mark’

•  Sometimes they did know their initials and wrote those down

•  Some who couldn’t write used a distinctive mark like a circle, a squiggle, or a combination of lines

Jim Lawson – kindredquest.com

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Process

BOILERPLATE LANGUAGE

•  Wording that occurs typically in most deeds or legal documents

•  It is the legal and process language that helps assure that the

transfer is final and cannot be challenged successfully in court

•  Every word in the deed is there to ensure there were no future lawsuits

•  Be familiar with what is boilerplate and what is not

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Preface

Parties Payment

Property

Postlude

Process

Provenance

WHERE CAN YOU FIND LAND RECORDS?

•  County Courthouse

•  Family History Center

•  Cyndislist.com

•  Ancestry.com (rootsweb.com)

•  Familysearch.org

•  General Land Office, U.S. Bureau of Land Management (www.glorecords.blm.gov)

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COURTHOUSE

Ask yourself the following questions: I.  Do land records for my time period of interest still exist?

II.  Are the records still in county custody? (May be at the state archives)

III.  What is the county seat?

IV.  What is the name of the ‘deed office’?

V.  Are the old records in the main courthouse – or in another building?

GENERAL LAND OFFICE U.S. BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

Ø Found at www.glorecords.blm.gov

Ø Provides live access to Federal land conveyance records

Ø  Includes access to more than 5 million Federal land title records issued between 1820 and the present

Ø Most records found on glorecords.blm.gov website are initial transfers of land titles from the Federal government to the individual

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MAPS, ATLASES, AND GAZETTEERS

•  Maps - Those maps that are of interest to genealogist are: old maps, county highway maps, and USGS maps.

•  Atlases – Historical atlases are of more interest to genealogist. They may show county formations, early roads and waterways.

•  Gazetteers – a geographical directory used in conjunction with an atlas or map. For a genealogist the older the better.

SUMMARY

ü Land records can be useful if you know what to look for and where to find them.

ü Knowing how and from whom your ancestor obtain their land can help you in your genealogy research.

ü Being familiar with land terms will help you read and understand them better.

ü Breaking a deed down into its parts can help you easily identify

information.

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USING LAND RECORDS

Any Questions?

THANK YOU

LAND RECORDS

Another way to search your ancestors

land records - wnygs.org

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