Land records are usually not the first records beginning—or even more experienced—genealogists reach for. They can be considered confusing in language (“What’s an indenture?”) and difficult to understand (“What’s the metes-and-bounds system?”). It can be even more challenging to decide how and when to use land records in family history research.
However, land records are unbeatable for locating an ancestor in a specific time and place. Land descriptions can reveal neighbors who might be kin to an ancestor. Parties to a land transfer can be related to the seller or purchaser. Land records can sometimes help define when an ancestor moved or died. Land records can be an indispensable tool in your genealogical toolkit.
The Emily Fowler Central Library’s Special Collections holds several books on using land records that provide a great introduction to what land records are and how to best use them in your family history research.
Locating Your Roots: Discover Your Ancestors Using Land Records, by Patricia Law Hatcher (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, Inc., 2016), covers all the essentials of using land records in easy-to-digest language. Hatcher discusses why researchers often avoid land records, but also why they can help solve a genealogical problem. She covers where the records are kept, how to find deeds in courthouses, and historical U.S. land distribution systems. She dives deep into what exactly a deed contains, and how to read and interpret one. Other records of residence like taxes and city directories are covered, as are maps, atlases, and gazetteers. Other chapters explain the metes-and-bounds land platting system as well as the public-land survey system. A section on general land resources available by state is included, as well as a terrific glossary of all those troublesome words and phrases like dower release, headright, and appurtenances, to complete this comprehensive land resource. (In-library use only)
Federal, State & County Land Records & Maps, Names & Places, by William Dollarhide (Orting, Washington: Family Roots Publishing Co., 2023), covers a lot of ground in under 50 pages. (In-library use only)
- Federal Land Records covers public land sales, state-land-states vs. public-land states, township and range system, and accessing land entry case files, among other topics.
- State Land Records explains warrants, surveys, and patents, and goes on to describe researching in those documents in various state localities.
- County Land Records covers genealogical research in deed records, a checklist for deed research, and what to do after you find a deed, etc.
- Maps, Names and Places dives into the USGS Map Locator, land ownership maps, HistoryGeo, and Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, and more.
DPL’s Special Collections also includes a trove of books focused on land records in particular localities, from Abstracts of Chester County, Pennsylvania Land Records to Ellis County, Texas Patents and Deed Abstracts 1845-1856, Connecticut’s Pennsylvania “Colony” 1754-1810 to Denton County Direct and Reverse Index to Deeds, to name a few. Access a full catalog listing of available titles here.
Now’s an exciting time to discover how to use land records, with the addition of full-text search in FamilySearch’s “U.S. Land and Probate Records 1630-1975” collection. Available to anyone with a FamilySearch free account, the full-text search not only helps identify the grantor and grantee in a transaction, but also every other person who is named in the record—from neighboring landowners to recording clerks to witnesses. The tool also includes a downloadable transcript of each document.
Access the FamilySearch “U.S. Land and Probate Records 1630-1975” collection in full-text search here. A short video on how to use the full-text search is available on the same page.
Both FamilySearch and HistoryGeo (a collection of original landowner maps, historical maps, and atlases) are accessible in the Special Collections area of the Emily Fowler Central Library.
—Nancy Gilbride Casey
DPL Volunteer
Denton Public Library 