Roundtable Recap – Land Records
November 14,
2024
Land records
were the topic for the November Roundtable Discussion Group. The discussion
reminded all of us that land records can be found with a variety of other
records, not just deeds.
Family Search is now offering a full text search as
one of their experiments in Family
Search Labs, and a link to it can be found as you scroll
down the homepage after logging in. Images are being added all the time. Clicking
on any of the buttons at the top of your search results will allow you to
filter further down to more specific years, locations, and types of records. The
summary of the document is helpful in deciphering the image and may also be
downloaded. Video tutorials have been created since the full text search was
announced earlier this year, but more recent videos such as this one from EasyGenie show the current search box.
It was noted
during the Roundtable meeting that land records are mentioned in numerous types
of documents including wills, probate, court records, etc., not just deeds. A
brief full text search in Family Search gave me further documentation placing
ancestors in specific areas at specific times. I also unexpectedly found in a
court case that my GGGrandparents who had always lived in Illinois owned land
in Comal County, Texas. The wife’s name was listed first in each mention
indicating she possibly inherited the property, and now I have more clues to
follow.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), General Land Office (GLO) records site is an extensive
resource offering access to more than five million records including Federal
land titles, land patents, survey plats and field notes, tract books, and others.
In addition to their own records, GLO provides Resource Links for states and general research.
Their Reference Center includes a glossary to help us better understand land related terms.
Other
sources for land record information include:
Tax
records – The Family
Search wiki has some good information about tax records and includes links to articles about state-specific
taxation records here. The Ancestry Family History
Learning Hub also provides information about historical tax records in this article. Tax records can provide information
about the location, value, size, and type of property our ancestors lived on,
such as a farm or a home in town, and whether or not it was rented or owned.
Census
records – The
Federal census can provide a location and whether a property was owned or
rented. Some states also had a state census every five years which can provide
additional location and property records. Agricultural census schedules taken
in 1850, 1860, 1870, & 1880 recorded information about farm value,
livestock, and crops, but these did not include small farms. NARA offers some information about the Agricultural schedules and
other nonpopulation census records. There is a list by state showing where some
of these records can be found towards the bottom of the page. Some records are located
at sites such as Ancestry and Family Search while others are only found at
State Archives, State Historical Societies, etc.
Maps – Some of the types of maps we
talked about at the October Roundtable are also helpful for finding land
records. Plat maps list the owner of parcels of land. Gazetteers provide place
names, some no longer in use, which can help us narrow down the location of our
ancestors.
Old
newspapers – Land
transactions were often reported in the local newspaper.
Bounty
land records –
Family Search has a very informative wiki, United States Military
Bounty Land Warrants, providing information and research links. A Google search also brings
up free online resources such as Kentucky’s Revolutionary War
Warrants Database and
Library of Virginia’s Revolutionary War
Bounty Land Claims. These are both national databases, not state specific. Update - NARA has partnered with FamilySearch to have AI extract all pages of the Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, ca. 1800 - ca. 1912. They are available in the National Archives Catalog.
State,
county, and town records – State agencies such as a state archive, general land office, or
historical society are all good resources. County and city level entities will
also probably have some historical records. Any of these should also be able to
tell you where to locate records that they do not have. Area universities often
have historical holdings, too.
Road crew
records – This
source was new to me. A Google search for ‘historical road crew records Travis
County’ brought up the article Early Travis County
Road Records at
the Travis County Archives explaining how the road crews were chosen from the
residents in the area for work on those county roads. It also has links to
records viewable on the Portal to Texas History such as this book which includes local road maps with
property owners listed. Other searches I tried at the state and city levels
turned up a variety of results. These records are definitely worth checking into
especially if you know of a road with the same name as your ancestor who lived
in that area.
Deed
books – These are
usually recorded at the county level, and most counties have some records
online. The county website should have a link to the county recorder or
register’s office. Greenville County, South Carolina, has a very efficient Register of Deeds
Digital Archive site
allowing me to easily locate and view deeds and other information for ancestors
living there as early as the late 1700s. A different county in a different
state offered a free search giving the number of results, but they were only
viewable after paying a fee.
Laws – Each state has their own rules
pertaining to how land is divided, bought, taxed, inherited, etc., and those
laws can change over time. The Advancing
Genealogist website
has a tab, Law Library Index, with links to law information for many of the
states, territories, and some special topics. This could be useful for trying
to sort out an odd situation with your ancestor’s land.
