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Land Record Reference

Welcome to our Reference Section. No need to whisper! If you don't find what you're looking for, drop us a line.

Getting New Land

• The Feudal Land System - Ain't it great to be King!
• How Land in the Colonies Was Acquired - Patents and Grants.
• Bounty Land Warrants, by Jan Bishop McFarland - Another way of acquiring land.
• The Homestead Act of 1862, by Richard Pence - The original 'sweat equity' way to get land.

State by State History

• Indiana Land History
  
• Introduction to Ohio Land History
  
• Pennsylvania Land History, by Dr. Neal Hively
• Introduction to Tennessee Land History
  
• Introduction to Virginia Land History
  

Buying and Selling Land

• Transferring Land - The selling process.
• A Typical Deed - It's not just legalese

Land Transaction Records. How they work, and where they are.

• Retracing the Trails of Your Ancestors Using Deed Records, by William Dollarhide
• Taking the Mystery Out of Land Records, by Linda Haas Davenport
• On-line Land Record Research Course
  
• Deed Books and the types of deeds they contain
  
• How To Get Copies of Land Records
  
• Books Relating to Land Records - The records you seek may already be in print
• Other Internet sites with Land Record Information

Two Types of Property Descriptions Used in Deeds

• Metes and Bounds - Meandering streams and white oak trees
  
• U.S. Public Domain - Home on the Section, Township, and Range

Terms You'll Come Across

• Surveying Units and Terms - Poles and Chains
• Legal and Other Terms - From the common to the obscure
• Corrections for compass declination errors - True norths are hard to find

Miscellaneous

• U.S. Geographic Name lookup - Locate creeks and other features named in deeds
• U.S. GenWeb - Gateway to local history and genealogy
• Cyndi's List of Land Record Sites - An excellent list of related sites
• FindLaw - Legal resources, including Property Law