township and range land survey system dispersed

It was the buyer’s responsibility to see that the deed was recorded and to pay the recording fee.

The person selling the land, his wife, and two witnesses needed to be present at the time the deed was written.

Deeds were usually written up by a county clerk, a lawyer, a justice of the peace, or someone else familiar with the needed legalities of a deed.

Some counties and entire states have placed all or some of their land deeds online. Many counties have transferred their deeds to microfilm or microfiche or have digitized them.

Deeds are public records and exist from the date the county was formed.Deeds are kept at the county level except for Connecticut, Vermont, and Rhode Island, where deeds are recorded at the town level. A deed is a written legal document transferring ownership of property from one person to another person.This means land records can be found at different government levels, including federal, state, and county. Thereafter, the sale of that land from person to person is recorded in a deed. The first sale of land from the government to a person is called a grant. In the United States, land is acquired either from the government or from an individual.Information from land records will lead to other types of records to search, such as probate or court records, marriage records, military records, or immigration and naturalization records to learn more about your ancestor and his family.

Land records can help separate individuals or families with the same surname.Land records may also show a location where a person lived previously, his occupation, if he had served in the military, or if he was a naturalized citizen.Land records show where an individual lived and the time period he lived there and may include other information such as a person’s age, the name of a spouse or an heir, parents, other relatives, and neighbors.With the opportunity of expansion west of the colonial states and because of the rural nature of America before 1850, as many as 90% of White men owned land, making the possibility of finding an ancestor in land records very high. Land records are the earliest, largest, and most complete type of record in the United States beginning when the colonists settled the land to show legal proof of ownership. RESEARCH – LAND RECORDS – TERMS AND DEFINITIONS 23 WHERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT LAND RECORDS.

21 TOWNSHIP PLAT MAPS AND LAND OWNERSHIP MAPS.19 GENERAL LAND OFFICE AND NATIONAL ARCHIVES.18 THE VALUE OF A PUBLIC DOMAIN LAND ENTRY.6.3 For counties which have not been microfilmed or are not online:.6.2 To find land records at the FamilySearch Library:.

Township and range land survey system dispersed