Deeds May Not Be Recorded Promptly

Records are recorded in the order in which they are brought to the courthouse to be recorded, not in order of the date in which they were signed and executed. This index to land records indicated that a deed from 1875 was recorded in 1884. The nine-year delay is not unheard of and it’s not unusual for recordings to take even longer.

It is very possible that a deed your ancestor signed selling property to someone was recorded decades after he signed it.