Inheritance laws are important to genealogists because how land was passed down gives us a lot of information. In the colonial period there were a fair number of people dying without a Will (called intestate). In actuality, any land that was passed down without a Will came under English common law in the southern states until after the Revolutionary War.
Two types of property exist. They are real property (land) and personal property (chattels). Common law used Primogeniture for real property only. Personal property did not fall under that law. Primogeniture is the right of the eldest child, especially the eldest son, to inherit the entire estate of one or both parents. It was invented by the Normans who brought it to England after 1066 (when they conquered England).
In the colonial period intestate land passed through the male heirs in a particular line of succession. There was no probate involved for intestate land. What was that line of succession? Of course the eldest son was first. Since he got the estate by common law, many times you will see no mention of it because it was already known. Even if there was a Will there may be no mention of it due to primogeniture common rules. Keep in mind that if there was a widow, she was entitled to a one-third interest in the land for her lifetime, under both intestate land and for land with a Will.
Ok, so if the eldest son was dead, intestate land passed to his eldest son if he had one. If the eldest son had no children then the estate went to the next son of the original deceased male, and so forth. If the original deceased male only had daughters that real property was split equally among his daughters. If the original deceased male had no children the estate would go to his eldest brother. Now, if the original deceased male had no heirs at all then the heirs of the original purchasers of the land came into play and it proceeded from there.
This common law system was kept in place by the southern colonies until after 1783. In 1784 North Carolina signed and act which detailed that intestate land be divided equally among the male heirs and if none existed than among the female heirs. This was changed in 1795 to equal shares amongst all the children. In 1785 Virginia passed a law which proclaimed that intestate land and personal property of the deceased should be divided among all the children equally. South Carolina passed a similar act in 1791 and Georgia in 1777.
For the basics of using land records and how they fit into genealogy we highly recommend just this one book:
Locating Your Roots: Discover Your Ancestors Using Land Records
The bible for Pennsylvania land research is this book, a definite which is recommended by every genealogist in Pennsylvania:
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