June 26, 2012 Genealogists in Second Life Book Club,

1. Second Life for Genealogists
Book Club
Val Greenwood
The Researcher's Guide to American
Genealogy – Chapters 19 & 20
Tina Sansone, Presenter

2. Local Land Record, Ch. 19
• Usually under county jurisdiction
• Grantor – the seller
• Grantee – the buyer
• Real Property – land, together what is
erected on it or affixed to it.
• Fee simple – estate would potentially last
forever & descent to one’s heirs if he died
intestate or be devised by will or sell it.

3. Chief obstacles preventing fee simple
title from being absolute ownership:
1. Estate will escheat to the state where there
are no heirs.
2. Eminent domain – government has right to
take private lands for public purposes upon
payment of just compensation.

4. Type of Estates less absolute
than fee simple:
• Life Estate
• Estate in Tail (Fee Tail)
• Estate Upon Condition
• Estate for Years
• Estates from Year to Year (Estates at Will)

5. Using Land Records
A. Relationships
B. Places – where did they live and/or where
did they go?
C. Proving Connections Through Land
Descriptions
D. Other Tricks for Hard Cases
A. Look for companion documents
B. Check for deeds on adjoining properties
C. Locate & plat out property descriptions
D. Account for both acquisition & disposition of
every tract of your ancestor’s land

6. Using Tax Records
• Real property tax records
• Personal property tax records (primarily
livestock and slaves)
• Combination of the two
• “if used with other records –
deeds, probates, marriage records, etc – you
can tell quite a lot about persons involved”

7. Availability of Land Records
• Location (see states on pages 425-428)
• Indexes – most are by name of grantors
& grantees
Note: Deeds are not always recorded, law does
not require it. It is a protection for the
property owner and up to them to take
advantage of it.

8. Abstracting Wills & Deeds, Ch. 20
• Getting the required information from the
records into your notes in a meaningful &
readily usable form without omitting
anything of significance.
• Abstract – summarize essential thoughts only
• Extract – take out of another source or to
copy in its entirety from a larger work
• Transcribe – to copy

9. Rules to go by…
• Get all essential facts
• Don’t try to be too brief
• If you are not sure if it’s important, copy it
• Better to get too much than not enough
• Experience will help you know what is
important to abstract

10. • Keep complete reference to its source by
locality, volume (or book) and page, serial #
of microfilm.
• Clearly state type of record & include all
dates important to the document, date made
& date recorded for a deed, date made and
the date probated for a will.

11. Essential to a Deed Abstract
1. Parties of the deed - grantor(s), grantee(s)
2. Places of residence of those parties
3. Consideration involved, price paid & stated
terms
4. Description of land – size & location
5. Relationship information
6. Misc. information
7. Names of witnesses – exactly as they appear
8. Signature(s) of grantor(s)
9. Any release of dower rights by wife of grantor

12. Abstracting Probate Records
1. Name of testator – person who made the
will
2. Additional description of the testator –
residence, occupation, inferences of age or
state of health
3. All persons named in will listed in order
named
4. Relationships stated for those persons to
either the testator or to each other

13. 5. Essentials of the bequests & devises to
these persons. (Land descriptions, names
of slaves, amounts of money, all other
property of consequence)
6. Misc Information
7. Name(s) of the executor(s) & any
relationships or connections stated
between him (them) & the testator
8. Names of witnesses – exactly as they
appear
9. Signature of the testator.