The Family Tree Problem Solver: Tried-And-True Tactics for Tracing Elusive Ancestors (24 page)

4.
Seth Moore and Isaac W.R. Moore took out adjoining federal land in Camden County, Missouri, a county that has no surviving public records before 1900. Isaac had disappeared by the 1840 census, but Seth remained; his entry in the 1850 census showed that he had children born in Tennessee in the early 1830s. Only one household showed the proper configuration in the 1830 Tennessee census, but it was in another badly burned county: Cocke County. With an Internet search, I was lucky to find Isaac W.R. Moore on the 1870 mortality schedule of Independence County, Arkansas. Research in that county showed him there in the 1860 and 1870 censuses, with children born in Tennessee. A man listed as “I.W.R. Moore” was head of household in Jefferson County, Tennessee, in 1850. Further research there uncovered Isaac White Rogers Moore's father, Jesse, who left a will in Jefferson County dated 1849 in which he named not only his son Isaac, but his son “Seth, now in Missouri.”

As you can see, a burned courthouse offers a great opportunity to explore heretofore unknown genealogical regions. Creativity, persistence, and endless optimism are the keys to this type of research. I cannot guarantee you success, but I can guarantee that you will learn more about genealogical sources in this pursuit than you ever dreamed existed.

A
cknowledging that land records are among the most valuable records produced for genealogical research is simply not enough — you have to use them. Many researchers simply ignore them. Why? Although it is hard for me to imagine, Pat Hatcher states in her book
Locating Your Roots: Discover Your Ancestors Using Land Records
(Cincinnati: Betterway Books, 2003) that genealogists avoid land records because (1) they may be confusing, (2) they can be difficult to locate, and (3) they contain both valuable information and routine data, and one never knows which will be uncovered. If you have not already read a good deal about land records and worked with deeds, I recommend that you read Hatcher's book for definitions of terms commonly used in land records.

Take the following exam to see how much you already know about using land records.
This will not only test your current knowledge, but the answers (immediately after) will point to some of the valuable items found in deeds and other types of land transfers.

True or False

1.
If you want to learn when your ancestor sold his farm, the best method is to check the grantee index book.

2.
For a land transaction to be valid, the deed had to be recorded at the county courthouse.

3.
Virtually all the land acquired by the United States after the American Revolution is surveyed on the rectangular survey system.

4.
When an individual obtained a parcel of land from the government rather than from another private party, it is called a patent or grant.

5.
If a man died after 1800, intestate, but still retaining a parcel of land, each heir had a claim on that land.

6.
If several individuals together sell a parcel of land owned previously by a deceased individual, most likely they (or their spouses) are related to that man.

7.
In the states that originally made up the Northwest Territory, a wife must release her dower privately at each land sale made by her husband.

8.
Under the law of primogeniture, which was in effect in some areas during the colonial period, the eldest son was entitled to a double portion of the estate.

9.
One of the advantages of the rectangular survey system is that neighbors are usually listed in the deed.

10.
You know how to locate section, township, and range on a map. If I tell you that Farmer Lemuel Seed lived in the NW ¼ of section 20, township 28 north, range 22 west of the 5th principal meridian, you can locate his farm on a map.

11.
In the lower-left corner of most deeds, the signatures of witnesses will be found. The first is from the husband's side; the next from the wife's side. Those signatures are to protect her one-third dower right.

12.
During the colonial period, all thirteen colonies assured a female her dower right before creditors could make claims on the estate.

13.
The federal government has mandated that all states use the same type of indexes to land transfers.

Answers

1. FALSE.
The grantor (or direct) index gives the buyer. The grantee (or indirect) index gives the seller.

2. FALSE.
If only it were true! Deeds need not be recorded to be valid. Moreover, because there was usually a fee connected with recording a deed, some people, particularly family members, might not have been able or willing to pay. Many land transfers went unrecorded, or were recorded many years and several transfers later.

3. TRUE.
It is important to know the difference between “federal land states” and “state land states.” The primary difference is whether the state (or colony) was the first to distribute the land, or whether it was initially distributed by the federal government.

4. TRUE.
Becoming familiar with the terms used in the transfer of land will make your research easier and the data you find easier to analyze. Become familiar with terms such as
patents, fee simple, abstract of title, acknowledgment, deed of gift, trust deed, land partition, mortgage, quitclaim, power of attorney
, and
warranty deed
.

5. TRUE.

6. TRUE.
This will be discussed in more detail later in this chapter.

7. TRUE.
Colonies and the lands formed from them varied in whether they required a dower at particular periods. Be familiar with dower policies in the area and the time period you are researching; release of dower rights is among the few types of records created by married women.

8. FALSE.
Primogeniture, which was in effect in some of the southern states until after the American Revolution, meant that the eldest son inherited all the real property. In colonial New England, the eldest son was entitled to a double portion.

9. FALSE.
In the metes and bounds survey system the neighbors are often listed in the deed, referred to as the “bounders” or “abutters.” This does not mean that it is impossible to determine neighbors in the rectangular survey system, but usually they are not listed within the deed.

10. TRUE.
I hope.

11. FALSE, FALSE, FALSE.
This legend continues to make its rounds in genealogical newsletters, but it has no bearing in reality.

12. FALSE.
Dower release was not common in the New England colonies.

13. FALSE.
We can only wish it were true. There are many types of land indexes, and a careful study of how an index works in a particular state will help ensure that you do not miss valuable records.

Ninety percent of all white males in this country owned land at some point in their lives. This is just one of the factors that makes land records so important to genealogists. Land endures. After the wars, the courthouse fires, the family migrations, the boundary changes, and the economic declines, the land endures. Because ownership of land has been so important, people are careful about maintaining good land records. They try to make sure their names are spelled correctly, and they distinguish themselves from others of the same name in the community by using a middle initial or an individual designation, such as “Abraham Myer, the blacksmith,” or the terms Sr. and Jr. Landowners strive to make sure the titles are clear so that they can sell or pass the land to others without entanglements. If there is a courthouse fire, the land records are the first to be saved, and if they are lost, they are the first to be replaced. All of these factors aid the genealogist. This does not mean that you will find every title cleared, or that you won't find mistakes in deeds, including creatively spelled names. It means that these records are the most
likely
to be correct of all those we use in our research.

In addition, by knowing exactly where a piece of land is located and tracking its transfer, the genealogist is less likely to fall into the common trap of following someone of the same name rather than the correct ancestor. I come from a long line of farmers, and one thing can be said for farmers: Nothing, with the possible exception of family, is more important to them than their land. In fact, most of my immigrant ancestors, whether they came in 1870 or 1630, came to this country for an opportunity they did not have in Europe: they came to own land. Many of my ancestors did not leave wills or probate records. Many of them were not regular church members, and if family Bibles existed, they have long since gone by the wayside. But my forebears left land records, and it is through those records that I have solved some of my most difficult genealogical problems.

Following are some of the items that you can find within land records. These provide direct evidence for the information sought. Later in the chapter, I will show how you can gain genealogical information from indirect evidence in deeds.

You can learn an ancestor's earlier place of residence.

The initial rule of thumb is to locate the first land purchase your ancestor made in a given location. Obviously, the first place to look for that deed is the grantee deed index. The first entry may have been made before he moved, or before he established his residence in the new county. In a Georgia deed dated 4 September 1836, George B. Wardlaugh of Bibb County, Georgia, sold to James Brown of Newberry District, South Carolina, 202½acres in the first district of Coweta County, Georgia (Coweta County, Georgia, Deed Book E:150).

Or, on 15 May 1830, Robert and Mary Rabe, formerly of Scott County, Kentucky, now of Marion County, Missouri, for $200 sold to Levi Barkley of Marion County 80 acres in Marion County. (Marion County, Missouri, Deed Book A:29).

If you cannot locate that first land purchase in the grantee books, your ancestor may have obtained his land by military warrant. The bounty land warrant index for the American Revolution and some of the warrants issued for the War of 1812 have been microfilmed by the National Archives. The bounty land warrants that are not indexed are at the National Archives. For the American Revolution, the bounty land records have also been filmed. There are many other reasons individuals could have received bounty land (see Patricia Law Hatcher's,
Locating Your Roots
, pages 76–77).

Perhaps your ancestor obtained his land from the federal land office in a sale of public land. Sometimes duplicates of those land records are in the county offices, but more likely they will be found only at the federal level, especially for the eastern states. These patents have remained in local offices in the western states. To learn how to obtain the land records for an individual who acquired federal land, see the “Public Lands” chapter in Hatcher's
Locating Your Roots
. Another excellent source for this information is Ken Hawkins's online guide to using Record Group 49, Land Entry Files of the General Land Office, which can be found at
www.archives.gov/publications/general-info-leaflets/67-land-entry-files.html
.

It is important to note the people who bought land at the same time as your ancestor. Even when entering federal land, people could choose where they wanted to live, and they may have lived in a certain location for a number of years before they actually completed the land entry process. Watch for individuals who purchased land in the same area as your ancestor. Their names may be easier to trace than the one you are searching, or perhaps that family left better records in the community. Cheap land in a new area attracted family groups, and not just those who were closely related. Within a frontier community, it is almost always possible to link early settlers together — if you have the patience and the desire to do it.
Finding a cluster of names in one community may lead to that same cluster of names in an earlier place of residence.

For example, Joseph Miller and Benjamin U. Goodrich bought land the same day in adjoining sections. If you were looking for their origins, which surname would you try to trace — Miller or Goodrich? In this case, Miller was the easier to track because he became an important member of the community, living to a ripe old age and leaving many descendants. Benjamin Goodrich was only about thirty years old when he bought land, but he died the same year, leaving just one child. Because of their land purchases, I surmised that Benjamin was some relation to Joseph. Sure enough, when I found Joseph Miller in Maury County, Tennessee, I also found a record of Benjamin's marriage to Joseph's daughter.

Do not despair if the first land purchase does not pinpoint where your ancestor came from. Check all of the deeds he created. Sometimes a later deed will give you that information. In 1845 Richard Brown recorded a deed of gift in Polk County, Missouri, that he had written in 1828, when he lived in White County, Tennessee. In another example, Samuel Moore of Polk County, Missouri, fell on hard times in 1838. He took out a mortgage on the money he expected to receive from the estate of William Lamm in Harrison County, Kentucky. Those deeds would have been much easier to locate if an index for the early land records of Polk County, Missouri, existed. Instead, I read the deeds page by page. This is much easier when your ancestor is settling in a newly formed county, but you should consider reading all deeds page by page even if they're from a long-established county because no index is perfect, no matter when it was compiled.

You can find an individual's destination.

Always read the last grantor entry for a man in a given location. That deed may tell you where he went. People were reluctant to burn all of their bridges behind them and may not have wanted to sell that last remaining piece of property until they were sure that they wanted to stay in the new area. Genealogists often become frustrated when they encounter the problem of an individual who lived in a community for a long time and then suddenly — just when the researcher expects to find a will — disappeared. It was not uncommon for a man, particularly a widower, to spend his last few years with a child, often a daughter. That last deed may tell you where he went to spend those remaining years as he concluded the business of a lifetime.

Sometimes the individual returned to sell his last piece of property, but more often he issued a power of attorney to a friend or relative still residing in that community to sell his land for him.