Neighborhood Reconstruction: Effective Use of Land Records

Why did people migrate from one location to another? What routes did they follow, and how can identifying migration trails help you find your ancestors? Learn from maps and historical details how to follow the trail of your ancestors into and out of the Southern states.

People recorded evidence of their property, paid taxes on property, gave away property, bought and sold property, fought over property, and willed property to heirs in the 20 state lands states. When understood and used properly, metes and bounds land records comprise one of the most important sources for research…

Tracking migration in the United States involves using census, vital, land, and probate records, the bread and butter of American research. Get an overview of each of these types of records; learn where to find them, and how to use them effectively to track migration.

People record evidence of where they live by their property, pay taxes on property, give away property, buy and sell property, fight over property, and will property to heirs. When understood and used properly, land records comprise one of the most important genealogical sources for research in America.

Research in the United States depends upon census, vital, land, and probate records, the bread and butter of American research. Get an overview of each type of record. Learn where to find them and how to use them effectively in your research.

Topographic maps and soil maps should help us identify a community, including neighbors, ferries, mills, cemeteries, historic houses, and many other landmarks. By using a combination of resources, the picture of this community will be more visible and more clearly understood.

Legalese. Boilerplate. Obsolete laws. Ancestral idiosyncrasies. The documents our ancestors created are full of such traps. This session uses two typical documents from different regions to illustrate, line by line, how to sort chaff from wheat, interpret deceptive language, and develop clues.

Kentucky and Virginia have some of the most complete tax lists in the United States. Their value in research often goes unrecognized by even the experienced researcher. Tax lists can be a primary tool for solving difficult research problems and are invaluable when used with other records. Learn how to access original records, to best organize them for study, and to interpret their meaning. The lecture will use case studies to show their use in tracking individuals across time, estimating birth dates and death dates, separating individuals of the same name, determining the identity of other family members, and using them as substitutes for deeds, court records, and estate records in burned counties.

Tax rolls have traditionally been used as a “census substitute”—a list of names to show that someone of a certain name was in a certain jurisdiction, in this year or that. But tax rolls can be developed into so much more. This session demonstrates how to use tax rolls to separate same-name people, determine ages of men and date their marriages, establish times of death, identify parents and the maiden identity of wives, track migration, document inheritances when probate records are destroyed, and so much more!