Land Records They can be plentiful, accessible, easy to use, informative and interesting. There are 5 steps: –Identify the individual –Determine if they owned land and where –What types of records exist –Use the records and crank the machines –Evaluate the data

Step One Identify the individual –Use other records that you have at home –The more you know about the person the easier it is to find land grants –Use full names, ages, other family names –Write down all clues you can gather

Step Two Determine where the individual owned land –What town –What county (make sure the county lines did not change) –What state –Check the censuses if you are not sure

Step Three What types of land records exist for your locality –Ancestry’s Red Book: American State, County & Town Sources –Most records are kept at the county level – Book “Land and Property Research in the United States” –Book “The Source”

Step Four Use the Records Alphabetical indexes –Records are recorded by Grantor (seller) –Records are recorded by Grantee (buyer) Virtually any person who owned land in the United States could be located in one of these indexes

Step Five Evaluate your data –Remember that the records you are looking at are not the original but a copy. The original went to the purchaser of the property –Handwriting can also be a problem

With Luck and hard work Find an accurate date and place of where your ancestors lived Find the names of all individuals purchasing the land Learn the wife’s name Find an actual street address

Plentiful Records 1850 – 90% of free males owned land Today about ½ the population owns land

Accessibility All counties, parishes, or towns are responsible for keeping land records Internet a good tool for land records Cindi’s List, Rootsweb, and Bureau of Land Management, all have links to land records, searchable by names

Easy to Use, Informative and Interesting Land records are indexed Some of the things you learn in land records can help you breakthrough those brick walls Examine who may have owned property before your ancestors Look at adjacent property owners, sometimes they were related Remember the who, what, where and when in searching through records Former country/state of residence could be mentioned

Sample of land record

Websites Type “land records” in any search engine and go searching

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