Land and Property

What are Land and Property Records

• Land records and property records are primarily used to learn when and where an individual lived.
• Land records reveal other family information, such as the name of a spouse, heir, other relatives, or neighbors.
• Assists in learning where a person lived previously, his or her occupation, if he or she was a naturalized citizen, and other clues for further research.

Why Use Land and Property Records

• These records may reveal where and when your ancestor lived and where they previously lived.
• Often, family relationships and information may be stated or inferred such as the names of spouses, children, heirs, other relatives, and neighbors.
• The occupation and social status of an individual may be determined.
• It is not uncommon to trace multi-generations in land records.

Land and Property Records by Country

• Category:Land and Property

Tips for Using Land and Property Records

• Recognize that it may take time to navigate and locate them.
• Land records exist in cases in which other record types didn’t. This is because the line of ownership has to be proven.
• Names of neighboring property owners and witnesses might provide clues to other relatives.
• The transaction might have been recorded at a much later date. This is especially true if the land remained in the family. Selling to a non-family member may have prompted the recording of the title decades after the initial owner died.
• Remember that land may be in a different jurisdictions (aka counties) in different years as county boundaries changed and new counties were formed.
• Notice if there is a record of the person selling land but no record of the purchase. This can be a clue that 1) the land was acquired by inheritance, or 2) the land was acquired from the state or federal government (which means that a higher jurisdiction needs to be considered.)
• Plat each transaction. This may reveal additional acquisitions or divisions between transactions and identify mixed jurisdictions. It may also allow you to analyze what is happening to neighboring properties.