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Research In Land Records
Land records provide two types of important evidence for the genealogist. First, they often state kinship ties, especially when a group of heirs jointly sells some inherited land. Second, they place individuals in a specific time and place, allowing the researcher to sort people and families into neighborhoods and closely related groups. By locating people with reference to creeks and other natural features, the deeds, land grants, and land tax lists help distinguish one John Anderson, son of Mark, from another John Anderson in the same county. Prior to the Civil War, most free adult males owned land; so if the land records of an area have survived but do not mention your ancestor, you should reevaluate the assumption that he or she lived in the area.
Most beginning genealogists underestimate the importance of using land records to pin persons to specific locales. In the South, which has far fewer vital records than New England, the land records are even more crucial to genealogical success.
Many of the land records mentioned here have been microfilmed ans some are transcribed online. The Genealogical Society of Utah includes state land grants and county and some city deeds among its routinely microfilmed records. The society formerly microfilmed deed books only up to 1850, later up to the Civil War, and still later—in some cases but not all—the subsequent volumes. Sometimes cumulative deed indexes exist but were not microfilmed. Thus, despite the society’s vast number of land records on microfilm, you should not regard its catalog as a complete inventory of what survives.
Other microfilmed records belong to libraries and archives that have made their manuscript collections of private land company papers and other records available. The millions of federal land patents have also been microfilmed and are available through the Bureau of Land Management
Summary of Land, Property, Deeds and Mortgage Records by State
