Your person of interest may be mentioned in local court or land records decades after their death. When their estate’s been settled and closed and their grave is completely grown over with grass (depending upon the location), there may be cause to refer to them in a deed or court record.

Sixty years after my ancestor died in Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois, in 1855 there was an issue the current owner of his home had with the title to the property. A court case resulted to clarify the issue. There in the court record was a discussion of when my ancestor purchased the property in the 1850s, the fact he died in 1855, the fact his wife died in 1903, and who their heirs were in 1913.

They were not wealthy landowners and it was not a large home. Just a small piece of property. But the title still had to be cleared and he and the family were mentioned in significant detail.

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