Genealogy Friends News

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.