There are several methods or principles you can use for searching land records in family history research to get a better understanding of how or where your ancestor lived. One of the methods used is to recreate the neighborhood in which your ancestor lived.
You can use land records to reconstruct who lived in and around your ancestors. They are a really good source for doing this. The reason you should look at your ancestor’s neighbors is to notice any similarities between them and your ancestor. Neighbors many times had similar migration patterns or immigration patterns. You may find that it appears all of the surrounding neighbors came from one common place, either a foreign country or another state. There were only so many migration routes from state to state, and your ancestor probably traveled on them. If you had been unsure where the ancestor you are researching came from, this can give you a hint where to look. It was common, the farther back you go for people to migrate together and live near each other. If, in doing family history research, you acquired the land deed of your ancestor, take a look at the witnesses to the deed. They may have been neighbors. By looking at the neighbors surrounding your ancestor you may find common patterns leading to more research.
In reconstructing a neighborhood while doing family history research you may employ other records such as census, tax or church records. Using those records along with your land records can give you a better picture of the neighborhood. If you were to look at local tax records you can see what families lived in the area. Combining that with land records, connecting witnesses or examining tract books, you can confirm who lived near each other. You may also find that some abstracts of land records have been published. They will list people living in the same small town.
Don’t forget to look at the Federal Land Tract Books. Using these you can get a list of grantees as well as the location of their land. The Family History Library has a lot of these on microfilm and many are available online as well (growing every year).
As an example, the below link is for a Federal Land Tract book for Butler County Alabama for before 1908. It includes the first grantee of the land, and the location in range, township and section. It also shows the year a patent was issued for the grant. A map is on this site as well, indicating the location of the land.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Bluffs/3010/butl-idx.htm
Here is one for Washington County Florida for before 1908:
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~flwashin/WASH-IDX.htm
The National Archives also has Land Tract Books which are excellent for family history research. You may want to visit them.
http://www.archives.gov/publications/general-info-leaflets/67.html#use
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