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.

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.

 Black Friday Deals

 Genealogy Conference Keeper is a great resource for updates on events, webinars, news, etc.  The Black Friday list of deals below is directly from their website, conferencekeeper.org

 'BLACK FRIDAY' DEALS ALREADY!'BLACK FRIDAY' DEALS ALREADY!

Keep an eye out for some good deals on genealogy products coming up and already happening! Black Friday isn't actually until Nov. 29 (day after US Thanksgiving), but many folks have started their discounts early. (Website links are in the Italic text).

 

• AmericanAncestors is offering 20% discount on all Great Migration and Mayflower books - Use code GMMAYFLOWER24. (thru Nov. 25).
• Ancestry.com has their DNA kits on sale for $39, as well as gift memberships to their website on sale until November 27.  
• FamilyTree DNA DNA kits also are on sale with big discounts.
• FindMyPast is offering 30% off "everything"  (ends Nov. 21) https://www.findmypast.com/subscribe
• Family Chartmasters is offering 10% off custom decorative charts (ends Nov. 30).
• Family Tree Magazine (UK) is offering a 90% discount on the usual price of their Plus program.
• Legacy Family Tree Webinars almost always has a great sale but hasn't posted one yet. Keep an eye out this week (and I'll mention it next week if I find one!)
• MyHeritage has their DNA kits on sale for as low as $36.
• Pharos Tutors is offering 15% off ALL courses with discount code FRIDAY15, until Dec. 2.
• RootsMagic is offering up to 50% off their genealogy software, including RootsMagic10, Personal Historian and Family Atlas programs.
• Storied will have special Black Friday sales also, but I don't have the details just yet. Watch their Facebook page though
• Vivid-Pix is not only offering really great discounts on their Restore software; Education/Software Bundle and their Memory Station Scanner/Software and Continuing Education Bundle (use coupon code Turkey2024), but through “Giving Tuesday” on December 3rd, 5% of all Vivid-Pix sales will be donated to The Alzheimer’s Association. Read more on their News page.

 

Giving thanks for Citizen Archivists

From NARA 

If you’ve been reading our newsletter for a while or follow the National Archives on social media, you might have heard of our largest Citizen Archivist mission — the pension applications of Revolutionary War veterans.  This mission is a special partnership with the National Park Service.  We hope that unlocking these pensions will bring first hand accounts of the American Revolution to park visitors. We are grateful for all the work our Citizen Archivists have done in advancing this mission.

A couple of weeks ago, we added a new mission for Native American patriots who applied for pensions from the federal government.  These men were identified as Native Americans by the Daughters of the American Revolution.  Many of the files name the tribal affiliation of the veteran. 

If you’d like to be Citizen Archivist and join us in transcribing and tagging records you can find more information here.  And if reading cursive isn’t your superpower, don’t worry!  You can tag already transcribed pensions from the American Revolution, or participate in one of our other missions featuring typed records.

Are you interested in a challenge?  We’re putting particularly difficult to decipher pension records in our Transcriber Task Force mission.  These records often have incomplete pages or pages where the original transcriber couldn’t make out many of the words. Check them out, review each page by page, and see if you can make them readable.

 The Creative Family Historian Is Closing

News from The Creative Family Historian

In December 2016 I had an idea to create a business to use my graphic design and storytelling skills to help family history enthusiasts bring their family history to life.   Fast forward to 2024 and it's been an incredible adventure. 3000+ templates sold 400+ students in my courses or workshops 50,000+ free genealogy worksheets downloaded I've had the opportunity to get to know dozens of family historians, learn about your ancestors and the stories that you want to tell.   Being a creative coach for family history enthusiasts was always going to be a Grade 5 hike. It's a hobby (sorry, lifestyle!) for those who are happy to research “how to…” and teach themselves the skills they need to know.    So, in December 2024, I'll be closing the virtual doors to The Creative Family Historian.    Templates purchases via a registered account in the website store will be available for download until December 2025. If you have questions about your template purchase, hit reply and ask away.   If you enrolled in a course or recent workshop, then watch your inbox for a separate email about that. You'll continue to have access to the training for a minimum of 12 months.    You'll also have opportunities over the next few weeks to grab a template or course access if it's been on your wish list for a while.    In 2025 I will be launching Family History Templates Co. and Inspiration and Memories Co. These will be ecommerce stores where you can purchases kits to capture your family stories, both past and present. If you'd like to learn more about these businesses and be the first-to-know any news I have to share, sign up for updates. Family History Templates Co. Updates Inspiration and Memories Co. Updates If you have questions or concerns, please contact prudence@thecreativefamilyhistorian.com

Viewer Update at FamilySearch

 FamilySearch has updated their image viewer to stay current with new technology. This includes keyboard shortcuts:

Genealogy Websites

Check out these genealogy websites:

Old Job Titles From German Church Records 

http://baseportal.de/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/JGorsler/Berufs/Beruf&localparams=1

Alte Berufsbezeichnungen aus Kirchenbüchern is a list of 3,179 alphabetically listed entries of occupations along with their descriptions. There is a search feature (Suchen). The website doesn't have an English option but you can use the translate this website in Chrome once you find the occupation to get an English version of the explanation. 

Odessa A German-Russian Genealogical Library

http://www.odessa3.org/  

A digital library dedicated to the cultural and family history of the millions of Germans who emigrated from Russia in the 1800s and their descendants. The collection is primarily digitized books and records plus indexes of microfilms and research aids. The website is free and provided by Roger Ehrich. 

International German Genealogy Partnership Conference  

https://iggp.org/2025-iggp-conference/

"Celebrate Your German-Speaking Ancestor" conference will be held June 13-15, 2025 in Columbus, Ohio. Registration opens December 1, 2024.

Applied Genealogical Institute Spring 2025

https://appliedgen.institute/

The Spring 2025 schedule is available for AppGen. They have courses on Irish Research, Southern States Research, Land Records in Public States, Genealogy & The Law, and Write As You Research. 

GRIP Genealogical Institute 2025

https://grip.ngsgenealogy.org/

GRIP 2025 virtual class week will be 22-27 June 2025 and In-Person in Pittsburgh, PA will be 13-18 July 2025. Registration Opens February 4, 2025.

Digitize New York

https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/content/digitize-new-york

The New York Genealogical & Biographical Society has two digitization centers that are working to preserve at-risk documents. A list of the completed projects is available on the website.  

Voting 

https://stlgs.blogspot.com/2024/11/voting-in-americaa-genealogical.html

The St. Louis Genealogical Society has an interesting blog post about the history of voting in America with links to resources.

Roundtable Recap – Maps

October 10, 2024

GenFriend members shared many suggestions for locating different maps to aid in our genealogy research and fill out our family stories during the October Roundtable Discussion Group.

Google Earth and Google Maps are well-known resources that offer much more than the current view of an area. Google Earth Outreach offers a Learn section with tutorials to create custom maps. A quick Google or YouTube search will bring up instructional videos, such as this one, on how to overlay historic maps. Current and historic maps can also be compared side by side in two different windows. It was noted during the Roundtable that these maps can provide some clarity if known locations are viewed in relation to county and/or state boundaries or other known landmarks. For example, the answer to why your ancestor always went to another state to give birth could be as simple as the nearest medical facility was closer to home but just over the state line.

The largest collection of Sanborn Maps is found at the Library of Congress. These maps were created for the fire insurance industry and provide information on the construction materials and size of structures in a particular vicinity. Each map will have a key on it explaining all of the symbols and colors used for that map. It’s advisable to read the “About this Collection” for further information. These maps can help us picture the homes of our ancestors and their neighbors along with other structures in the town. Sanborn Maps can also be found in many other places including regional collections, manuscript collections, and at historical societies.

The online Perry-Castaneda Library (PCL) Map Collection is a small part of the PCL holdings at The University of Texas Libraries. This is an extensive collection of many different types of maps from throughout the world and can be browsed by region, country, state, type of map, etc. Most of the links still seem to work, but there is a notice on the front page that the website is archived and no longer being updated. There are links for additional information.

USGS provides topographical maps of the United States, including a Historical Topographic Maps Collection and a Geographic Names search. These maps are useful for providing the historical names of creeks and other places that are sometimes mentioned in deeds and other paperwork. This can be very helpful in determining more exact locations for our ancestors.

Land ownership maps, known as plat maps, are another useful tool for locating the exact location our ancestors lived in a given vicinity. They show how the land was divided at the time the map was created. The surname of the owner of each tract of land is written in that property’s space. The owner’s name will sometimes include the first name or initial. If a widow owns the land, that is often indicated with Widow or Mrs. It’s a good idea to search for plat maps at any genealogy site you use as many resources have at least some for their area and maybe additional locations. HistoryGeo offers a searchable database and document images but is a subscription site.  Access to it is available through many public libraries, including the Plano Public Library, with your library card.

Several other large sites offering a variety of maps are Historic Map Works, the David Rumsey Map Collection, the Bureau of Land Management, Digital Public Library of America, and the National Archives. The Library of Congress also offers other maps in addition to Sanborn.

Other types of maps:

Cemetery maps similar to what can be found at Burial Search and the VA’s National Cemetery Administration. The specific cemetery of your ancestor might also have a plot map.

Transportation maps such as the Railroad Maps found at the Library of Congress.

Military maps of battles/locations where an ancestor might have served. The National Archives has Civil War maps, for example.

Migration route maps can be found at many websites via a Google search. The National Park Service offers some good information and maps about historic routes in America.

Sites helpful for understanding map information:

A United Kingdom website, MapServe, has information about Ordnance Surveys in other countries.

The Newberry Library offers an interactive website depicting historical boundaries for US Territories, States, and Counties.

Creating personalized maps:

Family Atlas is a genealogy mapping and publishing software available from Roots Magic for a modest cost. It’s a stand-alone product, not a subscription.

Many family tree programs provide some sort of timeline/map option. The timeline feature at Family Search, for example, is accessed on the profile page of a person in your family tree and includes a map.

There are many more sites to access maps useful for our family history research. In addition to the ones mentioned above, there are some older but still helpful options. USGenWeb is a completely free website that was created almost 30 years ago by genealogists and maintained by volunteers. The Internet Archive and Wayback Machine provide access to a wide range of materials and past versions of websites. County courthouses, historical societies, and local libraries can provide suggestions, if not actual maps, for possible locations where your ancestors might have been. State archives and college collections are another good source. A simple Google search with terms such as ‘historic map + (place name)’ or ‘(town name) + Sanborn map’ could yield new materials to research. GenFriend members also mentioned to search again at sites you have checked in the past as many sites continue to digitize additional records.

Serendipity often leads to genealogy finds. Many years ago, I was watching a genealogy show, probably Who Do You Think You Are, when a 1641 plat map of New Haven, CT, popped up on the screen. I was not related to the ancestor of the guest on the show, but my eyes immediately focused on two names, Joshua Atwater and David Atwater, as Atwater is the maiden name of a gggrandmother in one of my paternal lines. I had not yet researched her line, but I wondered if there could be a connection. It turns out that the David Atwater on that 1641 map is my 9x greatgrandfather! You never know what direction a map might lead you in your research, so they're always worth looking at.