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Historical Records Land Records

Fruit of the Earth: Using Deeds to Uncover Your Ancestors

Robyn Smith
Sep 23, 2022
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Syllabus
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Content

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Introduction
5m 56s
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Deed Processing
5m 46s
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Common Deed Types
6m 33s
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Deed Research Process
9m 07s
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Uncovering Relationships
12m 42s
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Slavery Related
13m 42s
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Community Research
5m 55s

About this webinar

Deed Records are one of the best records for researching family history, but their legal language can intimidate even seasoned researchers. In this session, Ms. Smith describes the various ways that land records can help our genealogical research not just on our ancestors, but also on the communities in which they lived. Land records can tie together multiple generations of a family and provide evidence for relationships. They can also shed light on the social history of a locale, which is important information to add context to the lives of our ancestors.

About the speaker

About the speaker

Robyn Smith
Robyn Smith has been researching her family and others for over 25 years. An engineer by day, Robyn applies those research and problem-solving skills to the field of genealogy. She specializes in Maryland, Court Records, African American and Slave
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Comments (5)

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  1. TG
    TRACY GREGORY
    1 year ago

    Just now seeing this and needing it. I have never used a deed record for research before. I have been missing so much! Thank you

    Reply
  2. JD
    Jeanne Dawson
    2 years ago

    Robyn is an excellent speaker, and presents this topic in a way that is both interesting and informative; She gives descriptive examples and makes using land records easy to understand. I enjoyed her lecture and will look forward to hearing other lectures from her.

    Reply
  3. AE
    Arlene Everett
    2 years ago

    Excellent

    Reply
  4. FE
    Frances Ewing
    2 years ago

    This was an incredible webinar, so full of insights and new information for me. Robyn is an excellent speaker and infects us with her enthusiasm.

    Reply
  5. NS
    Nicole Sparks
    2 years ago

    Very good webinar – I love deeds as genealogical records.
    One note: Married women could also be left things by their parents or siblings, tied up in such a way that the husband cannot access it. I have several ancestors who clearly disapproved of their sons-in-law and thus left things to be held in trust by executors (sometimes “while she shall remain married to…” if they wanted to make it explicit that it was him they were objecting to). Always leaves me wanting to know the gossip!

    Reply

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