Genealogy By the States – Week 11 – New York

Part of the reason I took on the Genealogy By the States challenge is because I knew it would force me not only to post something every week, but it would allow me to get in some research time.  Only 11 weeks in and I have made some great discoveries that I may never have gotten around to.  This week was no different. 

I have lots of New York connections so my initial problem was figuring out who or what to tackle.  I ultimately decided to explore the New York Land Records, 1630-1975 image collection that was added to FamilySearch a few months ago.  What a relief to be able to explore the many counties I needed to search (just for one family!) from the comfort of my home.  I cannot begin to tell you how many films I would have had to order just to research this one family, not to mention the other families I have in New York. 

Part of the reason so many counties were involved is because this particular family lived in three different areas in New York, and during the times they were in a county, new counties were being formed.  Thank goodness for Red Book and the thoroughness of information on county formations and records.  And fortunately, I had kept excellent notes on the specific towns and the trail of counties the belonged to and when.

After searching all but one of the applicable counties, I found three deeds that were relevant to my research goal of finding land records for Aaron Webster in known places of residence in New York.  Oddly enough, each of the three are the selling of land and I was not able to find the initial purchase for any of them.  The good news is I have a better timeline to work with, which will be helpful for continued research on this family.

Below is one of the deeds I found in Jefferson County.¹

Click image to see the original on FamilySearch.

Another interesting resource I found was The Balloting Book, and Other Documents Relating to Military Bounty Lands in the State of New York (this was found under Onondaga County).  This book lists all of the townships (including those outside Onondaga County) and who was awarded each lot of land.  It also lists each person and whether they were actually deeded the land or if they assigned it to someone else.  For more information about the Military Tract of Central New York, see the Wikipedia entry for Central New York Military Tract and information put together for the Cayuga County NYGenWeb Project entitled A Summary History of the Military Tract of Central NY.

Even though this resource didn’t really apply to what I was working on (or any of my ancestors, that I’m aware of at this point in time), I thought maybe I could figure out who was awarded Lot 47 in Fabius that Aaron acquired and later sold in 1806.  I hoped that I could follow the trail and perhaps find the deed where Aaron purchased the land, thinking perhaps it wasn’t indexed correctly or at all under Aaron as the grantee. 

I was able to figure out that Thomas Warner, Lt. was awarded Lot 47 in Fabius and assigned it to Richard Platt.  This was verified by the deed index showing the transaction for that land from Thomas Warner to Richard Platt (however, I cannot locate the actual record).  Unfortunately, I could not find a record of Richard Platt ever selling that land.  On top of that, in the handwritten pages after the book, there are other names listed for Lot 47 in Fabius:  William Cooper and Seth Johnson.  This was further confirmed by the Awards of the Onondaga Commissioners book.  I’ll have to work on this further and see what shakes out.

My focus was on Aaron Webster’s land transactions in New York, but while I was searching the indexes, I also noted other Websters I knew were in the same areas.  So now I have a list of other deeds I need to pull and work on in the future.  My next step in Aaron’s project will be to transcribe the three deeds I found and adjust my visual timeline accordingly.  Those “unknown” gaps of time are getting smaller!!

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Sources

1.  Jefferson, New York, Deed Records, F: 210, Aaron Webster to Roger Read, deed, 21 March 1814; digital images, "New York, Land Records, 1630-1975," FamilySearch (familysearch.org : accessed 20 March 2013).

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Genealogy By the States is a theme created by Jim Sanders over at the Hidden Genealogy Nuggets blog.

Collateral Family Deeds in Oakland County: Part 1

This is a list of the deeds I have transcribed for my known collateral families in Oakland County, Michigan.  Part 1 includes all deeds found in Volumes 1 through 10 of the Oakland County Deeds.

All of the deeds were transcribed by me.  The links will take you to the transcription, which is available on Scribd. 

Date	Grantor	Grantee
1825-05-24	Silas Glazier	Elisha Glazier
1828-08-13	Austin E Wing	Elisha Glazier
1828-10-13	Daniel Vanantwerp	Elisha Glazier
1829-11-28	George Postal	Nelson Madden
1830-10-02	Elisha Glazier	James Kemp
1832-09-12	George M Shaw	William Nichols, Jesse Decker, Philip Bigler and Elisha Glazier
1833-11-15	Elisha Glazier	Tenison F Glazier
1834-06-13	Elisha Glazier	Benjamin F Pierson

Webster Family Deeds in Oakland County: Part 1

This is a list of the deeds I have transcribed for my known Webster family in Oakland County, Michigan, as well as other Websters I found along the way, who may or may not be related.  Part 1 includes all deeds found in Volumes 1 through 10 of the Oakland County Deeds.

All of the deeds were transcribed by me.  The links will take you to the transcription, which is available on Scribd.  I have also updated my Google map for the known Webster family (it includes my Parks family as well).

Known Webster Family in Oakland County

Date	Grantor	Grantee
1823-05-14	Aaron Webster	James Thorington
1823-08-11	Aaron Webster	Elizur Goodrich
1823-10-11	Luther N Webster	James Thorington
1824-03-01	Luther N Webster & Robert Parks (adms for Aaron Webster Estate)	Leander Wood
1824-03-20	Luther N Webster & Robert Parks (adms for Aaron Webster Estate)	Nathaniel Millard
1824-04-19	Luther N Webster	Sheldon M Perry
1824-05-25	Luther N Webster (adm for Aaron Webster Estate)	Ebenezer Smith
1825-01-28	David Lyon	Luther N Webster
1826-09-06	Luther N Webster	Mason J James
1827-05-17	Chester Webster	Hervey Topping
1827-06-29	Luther N Webster	Michael Pearsall
1828-02-04	Moses Olmstead	Luther N Webster
1829-01-01	Nathaniel Hathaway	Chester Webster
1830-07-02	Northrup Jones	Luther N Webster
1833-04-16	George M Shaw	[William] Aaron Webster
1833-04-16	[William] Aaron Webster	George M Shaw
1833-05-08	Calvin P Webster	Isaac Smith
1833-05-11	[William] Aaron Webster	John B Young

Not-So-Sure-About Websters in Oakland County

Date	Grantor	Grantee
1831-10-18	William Webster	James T Rhoads
1835-03-11	John T Webster	Charles C Hascall

Parks Family Deeds in Oakland County: Part 1

Oh no, not another post on land records!  Don’t worry, if you’re not interested in this family, you can move on…you won’t miss any tips or great stories.  This is simply a list of the deeds I have transcribed for my known Parks family in Oakland County, Michigan, as well as other Parks I found along the way, who may or may not be related.  Part 1 includes all deeds found in Volumes 1 through 10 of the Oakland County Deeds.

All of the deeds were transcribed by me.  The links will take you to the transcription, which is available on Scribd.  I have also updated my Google map for the known Parks family (it includes my Websters as well).

Known Parks Family in Oakland County

Date	Grantor	Grantee
1822-10-12	Charles C Trowbridge	Robert Parks
1824-01-23	Salmon Mathews	Robert Parks
1826-04-07	Robert Parks	Calvin C Parks
1827-03-02	Robert Parks	James Skidmore
1827-06-29	Robert Parks	Michael Pearsall
1829-03-03	Benjamin Hoyt	Michael Pearsall, Robert Parks and George P Morse
1829-03-23	Robert Parks	Clark Beardsley
1829-06-23	Ebenezer Smith	Allen Minor Parks
1830-02-27	Allen Minor Parks	Calvin C Parks
1830-11-23	Calvin C Parks	Van Rensalaer Harper
1831-03-17	Robert Parks	Betsey (Parks) Webster
1831-06-02	Robert Parks	Samuel W Harding
1831-06-21	Joseph Clark Hemmingway	Robert S Parks
1831-06-23	Robert S Parks	Salmon J Matthews
1831-06-25	Lucy Goodrich	Robert S Parks
1832-01-19	Calvin C Parks	Salmon J Matthews
1832-03-13	Calvin C Parks	John Allen
1832-03-13	John Allen	Calvin C Parks
1832-04-03*	John K Smith	Calvin C Parks
1832-04-03	John K Smith	Calvin C Parks
1832-09-06	Calvin C Parks	John E Beardsley
1832-11-12	Charles C Hascall	Calvin C Parks
1833-01-13	Peter Schoonover	Bennett Beardsley & Calvin C Parks
1833-05-16	Allen Minor Parks	Jonathan F Noble
1833-05-17	Calvin C Parks	Henry H Panton
1833-09-04	Bennet Beardsley	Calvin C Parks
1833-10-01	Oakland County	Calvin C Parks
1833-11-16	Jonathan F Noble	Allen Minor Parks
1834-11-14	Calvin C Parks	Salmon T Matthews
1835-05-02	Calvin C Parks	Henry H Panton
1835-09-10	George Clark	Calvin C Parks
1835-10-26	Calvin C Parks	Arthur Power
1835-10-31	Ebenezer Pennell	Calvin C Parks
1835-12-18	Bennett Beardsley	Calvin C Parks
1835-12-18	Bennett Beardsley	Calvin C Parks

*Recorded in Oakland County, but land is located in Lapeer County.

Not-So-Sure-About Parks in Oakland County

Date	Grantor	Grantee
1831-09-03	Benjamin Bresee	William Parks
1833-02-09	William Parks	Nathan Taylor
1833-03-04	Henry Vanamburgh	Lorilla Parks
1833-03-04	Henry Vanamburgh	Smith Parks Jr
1833-05-21	William Parks	Hira Law
1833-05-22	Daniel Lake	William Parks
1833-05-24	Harvey Cone	William Parks
1833-10-24	Vincent Parks	Smith Parks
1833-12-03	Alanson Parks	Joab Guile
1834-01-27	William Delling	James Parks
1834-06-18	Alanson Parks	Smith Parks
1834-10-02	Smith Parks	Smith Parks Jr
1835-03-03	William Parks	Smith Parks
1835-05-25	Samuel B Pickett	Esther Parks
1835-09-??	Joseph Bishop	John Parks

Keeping Track of Land Transactions

As you probably know, I have been busy collecting and transcribing deeds for my Oakland County, Michigan families.  While I’ve recorded each transaction in my database, it’s hard to visualize what occurred with each parcel, when and between what parties.  Over the last few days I’ve been brainstorming about how I could make it easier to track all the transactions for a particular parcel.  Today, I’ve been working on compiling the transactions in a Word document and thought I’d share with you why and how I did it, as well as the things I found as a result.

While I don’t like having the same data in many places or across several types of media and/or formats, I thought it was important to pull out the land transactions to better analyze them together.  So I created a Word document for each of the two main families I am working on.  Within that document are tables for each parcel of land.

I used the following columns:

• Date (the date the transaction took place)
• Party 1 (I prefer to have the relative in this column for easy reference)
• Trans. Type (sold to, purchased from, mortgaged to, financed mortgage to, quit claimed, etc.)
• Party 2 (the other person or persons involved in the transaction)
• Price (Trans. Amount might be a better label)
• Acres
• Divided? If so, what part? (this is to indicate whether only a particular part of the parcel was transacted and what part)
• Still In Family? (this is to keep track of whether or not any of the land remained in the family as well as when it left the family’s possession)

The parcel tables are arranged by Township, then Range, then Section so I can easily find a particular parcel.  Each transaction is listed in date order, from oldest to newest.  Most of the transactions followed the typical pattern you would expect; it came into possession and later left their possession.  But by putting these land transactions together in this manner, I was able to see a variety of issues.

For example, there are a few parcels where the only transaction is the sale.  Keep in mind I have started with the first volume of deeds, as well as the federal land grants, so I should have the purchase transaction (or so you would think).  Also note, that as far as I can tell, the land did not enter their possession through inheritance.  In these cases, I created a footnote pointing out that I have no idea how the person came into possession of the land they subsequently sold.  After I entered all the transactions for all of the family land, I took a closer look.  In two cases where the initial possession is unknown, I do actually have an index entry indicating a purchase of some kind with an approximate date.  Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I was unable to located these two deeds.  I went back to the Word document and amended the footnote to include the possible purchase transaction.

Another reason this was helpful was to see how the a larger parcel of land became divided.  Since I record the parcel as that of the original purchase transaction, I subsequently add the sale transactions that took place dividing the land.  See example below.

 

In this case, Robert originally purchased 80 acres in 1823.  But in 1827 he sold off 40 acres, which I can easily see in this table. I also noted in the “Still in Family?” column that some of the land is still in the family (after this particular transaction took place).  (Note:  I do not have any further transactions for this piece of land; I’m only up through volume 10 with a “whole heck of a lot” of volumes still to go.)

This process also led me to question some things.  For example, Robert S Parks purchased 80 acres of land, described as T3N R10E, Section 26, E 1/2 of SW 1/4.  In another transaction, two days later, he sold 80 acres of land described as T3N R10E, Section 26, E 1/2 of SE 1/4.  After carefully reviewing the deeds again (and then again), I am pretty certain that it was not a transcription or interpretation error.  While it is possible that he bought one parcel of land and sold another, I have no purchase for the second one, so I am left to wonder if it was the same piece of land and that someone recording it made an error.  More research needs to be done to determine if this is a correct theory and if so, which quarter-section is the correct one.

Another set of questionable transactions relates to land my fifth-great-grandfather, Aaron Webster, purchased from the government in 1821, namely T2N R11E, Section 5, SE 1/4.  Just before his death in 1823, he was selling off his land in Troy Township because he decided to build a saw and grist mill in neighboring Pontiac Township.  In May of 1823, before his death, he apparently sold this parcel of land to James Thorington for $2,000.  But, in March 1824, after his death, this SAME piece of land is sold (by the administrators of his estate) AGAIN this time to Nathaniel Millard.  No idea what’s going on with this one!

It took me roughly half the day to record about 50 or so transactions in Word and update my Google map, but I think it was well worth the time as illustrated above.  Additionally, by having these transactions laid out in this particular format, I can see if there are transactions missing, follow up on mortgaged property, and trace any particular piece of land from the time it was sold by the government until any point-in-time.

If you have your own system for tracking land transactions, please share it by leaving a comment.  I’d love to see how others do it.

Need Some Help With a Deed

I’m reaching out to my fellow genealogists for some help with deed language.  As you may know from previous blog posts, I’m fairly new to land records.  Most of my immediate ancestors were urban folk who rented homes in Chicago, so land records were not a priority for me.  But as I continue researching the line that’s been in the United States since colonial times, land records are essential to my research.

I’ve begun my land research in Michigan, where my ancestors initially purchased land, in Oakland County, from the government in the early 1820s.  Of the deeds I’ve pulled so far, they contain the standard “boilerplate” information about the transaction.  They are then signed by the grantor(s), with witnesses listed.  But it seems that the ones where the wife is also a grantor, there is additional language recorded by a Justice of the Peace.  This is what I am having a hard time figuring out, what exactly this language means.  Following is an example of the language in question, that follows the signatures of the deed:

Territory of Michigan}
Oakland County} ss:  Be it remembered that on this seventh day of March A.D. 1831 before the subscriber a Justice of the Peace in and for the county aforesaid Came Robert Parks and Polly his wife to me personally knowing to be the persons within described and who executed the within deed and severally acknowledges that they executed it for the uses and purposes therein mentioned—And the said Polly being by one examined seperate and apart from her husband acknowledges that she executed the within deed freely and voluntarily without any threats fear or compulsion of her said husband or any other person.

The portion in red is the part I don’t fully understand.  Why was it necessary to do this, and what exactly does it mean?  Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Friday Finds – 01/15/10

Weekly column sharing genealogy-related things that I’ve learned or found.

When I upgraded from Windows XP to 7 I forgot to back up my blog drafts that were saved locally, so I lost the post I started for this week’s Finds.  I remember some of them, but I know I’ve missed some.  Here are the one I remember.

Article – Granny Pam over at Granny’s Genealogy posted two wonderful articles in October, each having to do with land records.  I particularly like the template she created to abstract/extract data from deeds while working in the courthouse.  Be sure to take a look at both posts, as well as her series of posts regarding land records:  Wexford County Deeds, Part 2 and Land Records, what next?.

List – Indexes to Michigan Newspapers

Article - Katrina McQuarrie at Kick-Ass Genealogy wrote a great article about organizing genealogy files.  She gives the basic idea of how the systems works and provides ideas to modify the system to suit your own needs.  Be sure to read the article Colour Coding for Fun and Profit.

Article – Over at Lineage Keeper, I found an interesting article, Possessions of Mayflower Passengers.