The first step in searching for land deeds and deed indexes is to learn about the locality where your ancestors lived. Begin by asking yourself the following questions:
- Do land records exist for your area and time period of interest?
- What county had jurisdiction at the time period (the present-day county where the land is located may not have always had jurisdiction due to changing county boundaries)?
- Are deed records still in county custody or have they been moved to some other location?
- What is the county seat and what is the name of the deed office (Register of Deeds is the most common name used for the office)?
Once you have determined where to search for land deeds, the next step is to search the deed indexes. This can be a bit more difficult than it sounds because different localities may have their deeds indexed in different formats and many deed indexes have not been computerized.
Searching the Index
Most U.S. counties have a grantor index, otherwise known as a sellor index, of their land deeds. Most also have a grantee, or buyer, index. In cases where their is no grantee index, you must read wade through all of the entries in the seller index to locate the buyers. Depending upon the locality, a number of different seller and buyer indexes may be in use. The easiest ones to use are alphabetized lists which cover, in order of recording, all deeds recorded within a particular county. A variation on this type of deed index is a list indexed by first initial of the surnames within a selected period of time (about fifty years or more). All A surnames are grouped unalphabetized in the page order in which they are found, followed by all B surnames, and so on. Sometimes surnames which are very common in the area will be grouped by themselves. Other indexes commonly found used to index deeds includ Paul Company Indexes, the Burr Record Index, the Campbell Index, the Russell Index, and the Cott Index.
From Deed Index to Deed
Most deed indexes provide a substantial amount of information including the date of the deed transaction, the names of the grantor and grantee, plus the book and page number where the deed entry can be found in the deed books. Once you have located the deeds in the index, it is a relatively simple task to find the deeds themselves. You can either visit or write to the Register of Deeds yourself or browse the microfilm copies of the deed books at a library, archives, or through your local Family History Center.
Next > Deciphering the Deeds
