Land Records Research Tip

Land records contain important evidence of ancestral ties. They also help to place our ancestors in a specific time and place. Deeds are the most common land record in American research. They have a common format and content from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but contain many legal terms that may be hard to understand. A plat map of a township is a representation of the land record on file and shows the names of the land owners on the properties they own. This would help to identify families that lived as neighbors and could provide clues to the relationships that may have formed.