If Your Ancestor Owned Land, Then There’s a Deed

“If Your Ancestor Owned Land, Then There’s a Deed,” by William Dollarhide

Dollarhide’s Genealogy Rule #23: Locating the county where your ancestor lived is the first step in finding records about the time he was hauled into court for shooting his neighbor’s dog, threatening the census taker with a shotgun, or making illegal corn whiskey behind the barn. A 90-Percent Chance Since the first colonists came to[…]Read more

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Early Land Records

Transferring Land from Government to Individuals: Model Two: The Colonial Government System

By Patricia Law Hatcher In the April 7 issue of “Genealogy Pointers,” we introduced the first of the various systems by which land was transferred by one of the colonial monarchs to individuals, The New England Model. As Patricia Law Hatcher explains in her definitive study of U.S. land records, first transfer varied both geographically[…]Read more

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Land Records

Transferring Land from Government to Individuals: The New England Model By Patricia Law Hatcher

With the conquest of the Americas, all land was originally held by a monarch—whether English, French, or Spanish. At this point, the process of transitioning land ownership to individuals is referred to as “first transfer.” As Patricia Law Hatcher explains in her definitive study of U.S. land records, first transfer varied both geographically and chronologically[…]Read more

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