Looking through land records is important for several reasons. You may have noticed we have mentioned theme before in this blog. That’s because using the land records of your ancestors can give you a broader idea of your ancestor’s life. Some things you can learn are the neighbor’s names, names of children, immigration dates to new areas, occupation and even economic status as a citizen. This type of information will take you beyond just knowing a few dates and marriages of your ancestor.
But before you begin doing land research for your family history research you need to prepare your notes and mind with the specifics of what you are looking for. You’ll need a research strategy. There are always new indexing of records going on and more and more land records are put on microfilm and the web every year. This gives you more opportunities every year to find new records, so don’t give up after 1 year of trying (and this applies to any family history research).
Did Your Ancestor Rent or Own
Many ancestors rented land, house or an apartment if they lived in or near a city. So you may not be able to find land records of an ancestor living in such a place. If your ancestor was a farmer in a rural area they probably owned land at some point.
What Was Your Ancestors Occupation
If your ancestor was a farmer, as most were the farther back you go in time, they probably owned farm land somewhere so records should exist for when they bough the land. If your family ancestor was a store owner or merchant in town then they may have owned a store but they also stood a chance of being a renter. You may not find land records for such an ancestor.
Have the Deeds of Your Ancestors Residence Been Indexed
Original records should always be your first choice, but if your ancestor’s place of residence has been indexed you can use these as a research tool. Some indexes include names of neighbors and or witnesses plus property descriptions. So they can be very useful.
What Years Are You Researching for Land Records
You need to know what kind of land records you may be able to find. Depending on the time period of the ancestor you are researching, different records may be available. Records can include grants, deeds, warrants, grants for military service, Native American land sales or leases.
Where Am I going To Go To Find the Documents
Once you have answered some of the above questions you will now have to figure out where the records may exist and if they even exist. Look up the county offices for the county you plan on doing family history research in, and the website, or a call, may tell you where their land records are located.
Census records will also tell you an ancestors occupation and if they rented or owned a home, depending on the year of the census. Census records, for certain years will also tell you the value of real-estate that they owned, giving you some idea of the magnitude of land your ancestor purchased.
The very best place to get census records online is at Ancestry.com. It isn’t cheap but I have personally taken my family back several generations using the census records found there, as well as some of the other data.
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