Category: Resources Page 14 of 17

Some of my favorite records to work with are land records! I love figuring out the Rectangular Survey System or the Metes and Bounds and then working with plat records. They really are a lot of fun! Plus, mapping out an ancestor’s property on a plat map, can show you their neighbors over the years. This is especially helpful when you hit a brick wall and want to see who their associates could be!

Many of you may already know at least one ancestor in recent history that owned land. How do you find out more information about that land? Was part of it sold over time? Was it bigger or smaller than it is now?

County Recorder

For all that information, you’ll usually go to your County Recorder. What you’ll find there will also vary from county to county, so call and be sure that the office will have land records available for researchers.

Sometimes these can be digitized in the office. My current county has that done, which is wonderful! The older records aren’t word searchable but everything is on their computer and they have a station set up for researchers. This isn’t always the case! My hometown’s information is in a small room, which I was allowed in and they showed me the indexes for the records for me to search through. Once I found the record I wanted, I could then look up the book.

There are also some counties that have their land records searchable online. That is a wonderful thing and I’ve noticed more and more are doing that. So be sure to do a web search to see if you are in one of those lucky counties!

Also, check the Family History Library microfilm to see if the land records were microfilmed. This is useful if you can’t physically go to the county.

The Record

First, search the indexes. These can be arranged by the grantor (the seller of the property) or by the grantee (the buyer of the property). The index will tell you where to find the record – the volume, page number, file number, etc. Normally you’d find the deed which describes who bought what from whom and where a property description.

There are other types of land records you can find too: mortgage deeds, warranty deeds, quitclaim deeds, deed of gift, dower release, etc. Once you find the deed you are looking for, make a copy of it if you can or transcribe it and then you can research the type of deed for more information on it if you wish.

The Information

The genealogical information that can be found can be:

• The grantor(s) -the seller(s) of the property
• The grantee(s) – the buyer(s) of the property
• Location and description of the land
• Cost of the land
• Dates
• Signatures

Sometimes the record will also give the information on who the seller bought the land from and who that person bought the land from, etc.

The Description of the Land

Here’s where it gets fun!

There are two ways of measurements for land records. In the thirteen original states they normally used something called Metes and Bounds. A typical description has a starting point, then follows with directions and measurements to plot out the land. The measurements can include physical features (like some sort of waterway) as well. FamilySearch has a wonderful example of this on their wiki: Metes and Bounds.

The other way of measuring is how the rest of the country measures lands called the Rectangular Survey System. The description goes from the smallest to largest part of the map. You’ll find something like this:

It reads: “… North half of the North East Quarter, and the North half of the North West Quarter of Section No. 12, in Township no. 16. North of Range No. One West containing one hundred and sixty acres.” [1]

To explain this, I’ll go from largest section to smaller.

• Meridian: The meridian runs north to south and the base is from east to west. In the above case, that is on the Michigan-Toledo strip. This isn’t necessary to know in most cases but can help map it out if you need it. The FamilySearch wiki on Rectangular Surveys has a map you can view for more information.
• Range and Township numbers: The range is the east to west line on the meridian and the township is the north to south on the baseline. Think of the X Y axis you learned in math class – same principle here. The numbers will then pinpoint an area on the map where that land resides. The townships are divided into 36 sections which each contain one square mile.
• Sections: The sections themselves hold 640 acres of land and can be divided. It can be divided into halves (the north and south halves), quarters, (the north east/west and the south east/west quarters), and even smaller. As the above example shows, my ancestor received the North half of the North East Quarter and the North half of the North West quarter.

You can map this out on graph paper to create a visual to help you. I always do this!

Plat Maps

This information is very useful with plat maps. I take the description information to the local library or wherever I know the plat maps are kept, and then use it to find more information on the area surrounding my ancestor and to see who his neighbors were as well. This can lead to clues when researching an ancestor.

Earlier Records

So what about earlier records? Say when someone bought the land from the state?

Federal Land Records are for the areas outside of the thirteen original states. To find those records, like the example I showed above, you can go to the Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records website (I call it the glorecords website). Here you can search for your ancestors, find an image of the certificate, and even look at plat maps. You can also find ordering information if you wish to order the file from the National Archives.

If you’re looking for records from the original states, those are colonial land grants. These can be found in the state’s archives or even still in the state land office. You’ll want to contact the state archives to find out where you can find your particular record and if they still exist as not every record has made it through the years.

Chime in on the comment section if you’ve found some wonderful things through land records! Or, if you feel I left something out, please let me know!

Happy hunting!

 

[1] Sylvester Erway (Midland County) cash entry file, certificate no. 7199, Genesee, Michigan, Land Office; Land Entry Papers, 1800-1908;Records of Land Management, Record Group 49; National Archives, Washington D.C

As always, what is held at county level can vary state to state, county to county. So again, it’s always best to seek more information on your county of interest by calling or seeking information online. Also, if you’re looking for more legal information with genealogy in mind, I can’t recommend The Legal Genealogist highly enough! She’s wonderful!

There are a number of court records that genealogists can use. However, these aren’t always easy to find or use so they do tend to be avoided. I’m going to go over some of the most common and more useful records for genealogists but know that each county (and city) courts have their own rules. So it’s best to contact the courthouse or county and see if they have the specific records you are looking for. Some of the older records can be kept in city/county/state archives, in state libraries, or even in historical societies as well. It’s also a good idea to be aware of the laws for that area at that time as some items (like naturalization – which I’ll discuss later) weren’t dealt with in the courts all the time.

Adoptions

This will be a tricky issue if you’re looking for adoption records. For one, depending on the time, adoptions weren’t a legal issue. People could have taken in their neighbor’s children, a relative’s children, or even a stranger’s children, without letting any legal entity know about it. It wasn’t until the mid-1800’s that laws were made about adoption. [1]

Generally adoption records are sealed, so the process for getting them varies state by state and normally requires a number of forms and lots of patience! Even if the records do get opened, there is no guarantee you’ll find the birth parents listed on the birth certificate or much of anything. Now this issue has been changing and there are several states that are making the records available to the adoptee. For example, Illinois changed their law in 2010 on these and now anyone who was adopted there before 1946 can get their birth certificate by writing to the Illinois Department of Public Health. (See the Illinois Department of Public Health for more information.)

There is also DNA testing! If you’re curious about using that path, see the website Your Genetic Genealogist written by CeCe Moore. I highly recommend her!

Civil Action Documents

A civil action is when one person goes against someone else (sues them really) for a grievance of some kind. Depending on the area, this could be handled by an equity (also called chancery) court or a court of law (usually this was when money was wanted for damages).[2]

To find a case file, you also need something called a docket (or journal) where the court cases are normally listed chronologically. Sometimes an abstract is also included in the docket. There can be many documents in these files! However, not everything has survived and if they have, they are sometimes not accessible for researchers. These records can sometimes be the hardest to find!

Court Minute and Order Books

There are many of these books microfilmed at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. You can order the microfilm or see if it’s been put online. Most of the time, these books are indexed by the names of plaintiffs and defendants, however you can sometimes get lucky and find an every name index too. If these books aren’t at the Family History Library, check your county for more information on where to find these. In my county, many of these older court indexes are held in the county archives.

These books are pretty much what happened in court on that day. That means that they will not only have the names of the plaintiffs and defendants, as already mentioned, but they could also name the judge, legal representatives, the jurors, and witnesses, not to mention the case information. It could also include information on licenses given out that day, appointments for city projects, and more.

Divorces

These are normally found in the court where the divorce was granted. If you know the county and city of where the couple lived, narrowing it down to the court it was granted in shouldn’t be too difficult (of course, this isn’t always the case). Depending on the court, these records are kept separate or with other civil actions. The information they can contain are wonderful for genealogists: the names of the couple, when they were married and where, where they currently live, children involved, etc.

More Information

For more reading, check out these two websites, which discuss some of the background and other information on the United States court system:

• United States Court Records on FamilySearch’s wiki

Anyone want to chime in on court records they’ve found? Did I leave something out you feel is important? Let me know in the comment section!

Happy hunting!

 

 

[1] University of Oregon, Department of History, The Adoption History Project, timeline (http://pages.uoregon.edu/adoption/timeline.html : accessed 2 Feb 2015).

[2] Professor Vernellia R. Randall, University of Dayton School of Law, Distinction Between Law and Equity, 2008 (http://academic.udayton.edu/legaled/remedies/Unit03b.htm : accessed 2 Feb 2015).

Going along the same theme of county records, today I’m going to look at probate records. One thing to keep in mind is there isn’t a hard and fast rule for where these records are kept and what each record has. This is a general idea for what can be found and where you can find the information.

Probate Record

A probate record is a court record created after someone has died and their real estate and personal items need to be distributed. These are usually pretty easy to obtain and they tend to go back pretty far into American history. These records have wonderful information in them about an ancestor and can help with figuring kinships, approximate death dates, and finding land records.

Location of Record

First, where you’d normally find probate records would be in a probate court in the county where the ancestor died. This court can have many names. For example, the one in my county is called the Circuit Court. Other names can be Register of Wills, Superior Court, District Court, etc.

Some of these records can be held in multiple areas as well. For example, in my county the older records are held by the County Archives and the more recent ones are still in the Circuit Court. Others may be held in the state archives or in the state library. Normally you can call your county probate office and ask them where the records are held for the time frame you are looking for.

Types of Probates

There are two different types of probate records: intestate and testate.

• Testate is what most would hope for; it means the person died with a will. The will itself can have a lot of genealogical information contained in them, like naming of children, which is especially nice when they name married daughters.
• Intestate means that someone died without leaving a will and it’s up to the court to settle everything and distribute items to heirs. The way this is done has to do with the law at the time in that area so it’s a good idea to know the probate laws for that county during your time frame.

Information in Records

This varies greatly but is my favorite part of working with probate records! Here’s a rundown of what you could find in nor particular order:

• The Will – This is only in testate records of course. It can include the name of his wife and his children. Sometimes it’ll simply be “my loving wife” instead of her name, it really varies.
• Letters of administration – This names the administrator of the will, who will settle the estate, and is probably a member of the immediate family of the deceased.
• Administration bonds – The administrator had to pay a fee to settle the will although this could be waived by the will. This document can help identify approximate date of death
• Sale bills – These can be items like the sale of personal property as well as funeral expenses.
• Receipts – This is a simple acknowledgement that someone received what they were supposed to from an estate.
• Inventory – Probably my favorite part of probate records is the listing of everything the deceased owned. It can include things like livestock, dishes, farm equipment, furniture, clothing, and more.
• Final Settlements – This is rather self-explanatory but it covers the debt that was paid, what was given to whom, and other fees were paid. This is usually the latest document in a record.
• Proofs of heirship – This can happen when a will is contested and can lead to a lot more information that you can find in court house records.
• Assignments of dowers – This would give the widow’s name and specifies what portion of her husband’s estate she has use of for her own life. Normally it would be one-third of her husband’s property.
• Decrees of distribution – This outlines the division and distribution of an estate and can list descendants with their relationship to the deceased.
• Guardianship appointments – This names a guardian if the deceased had minor children. It could be the surviving parent or some other close relative. These records can help determine age for a child too. In early American history, if a guardian was appointed that normally means the child was under 14. If the child chose his own guardian, that means he was over 14. This rule can vary and it’s always best to check the laws for that time. More about this is below.

Women

For early American history, women’s part in this is interesting. A married woman usually did not own property. Anything they had prior to being married – any inheritance or wages earned – became their husbands unless there was a will that specifically stated otherwise. So, few married women had wills. Widowed women who never remarried did make wills though. Of course, once again, each place is different but it’s good to know how women were viewed in the law to help you to understand how probate rulings could affect them.

The Legal Genealogist wrote a post about a Reversion of Dower that touches on women’s rights when it came to property. I highly recommend reading her blog by the way. She’s very informative and has a great writing style.

Guardianship

Since widows weren’t normally considered capable of taking charge of their children’s property, a child was normally appointed a man (usually a relative) to be the guardian for the children. This person could be appointed by the will or by the court if the will didn’t do so. These records are normally restricted now. Sometimes there can be a time frame for this restriction but often all of them are restricted.

Other Places to Find Probates

Probate records are normally in the county the person lived in at the time of his death. However, there are other places where you can find this information:

• There can be published wills and abstracts, which can help you find the original.
• Sometimes there are indexes to help you find these records. There are lists on the USGenWeb Project website and some on FamilySearch.org.
• FamilySearch.org has many indexes, abstracts, and whole collections of probates for specific counties available on microfilm. Go to the catalog section of the FamilySearch,org website (under the search tab). From there put in the county you need in the search box. Once found, hit enter and it’ll take you to a list of records for that county. You can scroll down to Probate Records and see what it has. Some of these are available to look through page by page or you may have to order the films. Obviously seeing the original is best, but this is wonderful if you aren’t able to go yourself.

There are many other records you can also find in courthouses and I’ll touch on what those are next week. Happy hunting everyone!

 

As many genealogists come to find, all the records they need aren’t online. (You are all shocked, I know!) The amount of what’s available changes nearly daily as more and more records are becoming digitized but suffice it to say, you will have to go out and about to get your many of your ancestor’s records.

Besides local libraries, one of my favorite resources are the county clerk offices.

(Some of the County Clerk offices are in amazing buildings like the one pictured above!)

I’ve been to several and noted that they are ALL different in some ways. Some have dedicated genealogy areas, some do not. Some have dedicated volunteers or even staff to find records, some do not. Some just let you almost have a field day with the original records, some (probably most) will not. It all varies.

First, what is the point of a county clerk? What does a county clerk do?

For the most part, a county clerk is responsible for public records. They can also be responsible for other things like issuing licenses (think marriage or even gun licenses), dealing with local elections, working with financial records, etc. It’s always important to check out the county of interest’s website for more information. For example, my county clerk is technically the clerk of the circuit court and is responsible for court issues and marriage licenses. So I wouldn’t go there for birth records or death records (those are in our health department) BUT, in my hometown in Michigan, I DO go to the county clerk’s office for birth and death records. Always check out the websites or call for more information!

So, what can you usually expect to find in a county clerk’s office?

Obviously, as I already showed, this can vary. But there are a few things you can expect to find:

• Vital Records – as one of the purposes of the county clerk is the official keeper of records, most will have access to vital records in their office. Birth and death records are normally kept here or in a county health building, or sometimes in both. Usually the websites will let you know where these records are and the years they are from.
• Marriage Records – this is normally going to be found here and is probably one of the easier records to find (not always the case though!). Again, check to see what dates the county has for recorded marriages. These usually start much earlier than recorded birth/death records. Also note that divorce are sometimes kept here too.

In areas with a smaller population, you can also find other records in the county clerk office. For example, some county clerk’s are also the county recorder, which deals in land records/deeds. Some county clerks also deal with passports. It really does depend.

So how do you get this information?

Doing some research before actually going to the office is your best bet. Find out what records are there and make a note of the records you wish  to find. Have as much information on that ancestor as possible! This includes birth/death date if you’re looking for either of those records plus their full name (maiden name too if possible). For marriage information, try to have both parties names and even the date or date range if possible.

Also call them or check out their website and ask them about their research policies. Some might have a form you can fill out before you get there. Some may have a dedicated section in their office to genealogy. Some may have local genealogy society members that volunteer their time and researchers are to only come during those times.

And ALL will have restrictions on birth and death records. Marriage records are less likely to be restricted but that is always a possibility as well. Many times you’ll see a restriction like 100 years after the birth date for either birth/death. There are ways to get through the restriction but it usually includes proving kinship and normally it has to be something close, like parent, children, and sometimes grandchildren.

Here is how it works in my hometown:

1. I make sure I have all the relevant information I can find on the ancestor. If I’m looking for a marriage record, I have an approx. date and names of the parties (although not usually the woman’s maiden name). For birth records, I make sure I know the birth date or approx. date and a name. For death records, I know the approx. death date and the name. My hometown county rule is for it to have been 101 years since the date of birth for either of those records, so I make sure the records do not fall into that restriction OR I fill out the forms to get around that before hand.
2. I go to my county building where the county clerk’s office is held. After going through the metal detector and being sure ALL electronics are not with me (ALWAYS CHECK THIS POLICY!), I proceed to the office.
3. The County Clerk office has HUGE books in corner shelving for genealogists. I head straight there. None of the clerks are dedicated to that section but will help you with questions and finding things as long as there isn’t a line of people.
4. I first look through the indexes to see if I can find the birth/death/marriage book and page number.
5. Once found I note it down (for citations of course) and then go to the book and find the information. Most of the time, these are simple registries. Depending on the year of the record, this may be all that is left of the record. If I want the official copy, I note down where it can be found from the index and then fill out a form to hand to one of the people behind the desk who then make me a certified copy for a fee. At this office, only certified copies are available for people to take and it’s about $15 per copy.
6. If I couldn’t find them in the index, but I know the date of the event, I will find the appropriate register book for the time period and hunt line by line. If it’s more recent and I still can’t find the information, I will then ask my question at the desk.

It can take anywhere from 20 minutes to 2-3 hours for a research trip, depending on what I am looking for.

County Clerk offices tend to be the next step for most beginner genealogists after writing what you know and searching online. Be sure to check the county’s website or call them for information on restrictions, electronic policies, research policies, and what records are available. If the records aren’t there, they normally know where they are and can tell you where to go. Be aware that county records vary county by county (sometimes township by township) and it’s always best to know as much about them and their policies before going in to do research!

Happy hunting everyone!