If your ancestor was a landowning farmer and migrated from Point A to Point B, see from whom he purchased that first piece of property when he arrived in Point B. It might have been a relative or former associate, neighbor, etc. The owner of that property in Point B might have been looking to sell it and heard that his relative or former neighbor was thinking of moving.
Or the seller could have been totally unrelated.
But you won’t know until you look.
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4 Responses
I am working on (handwritten) deeds from the 1850s, which often include lands that were part of an original Oregon Donation Land Claim. I try to find the birth names of the women involved, the dates they came to Oregon and the original DLC owners. I have found: parents deeding land to a married daughter, in her name only (guess what? there is a divorce coming), a married couple selling land to two brothers who live nearby and turn out to be the wife’s brothers as well.. The sale represents her part of the estate of her deceased parents. And my favorite, involving a little frontier justice “Horace, Sr. was shot by B. Kendall in 1862, and in 1863 his son, Horace Jr. assaulted and killed Kendall. Horace Sr. died in 1884.”
You are right that deeds transferring to a married daughter in her own right usually is indicative of trouble.
OK great idea . How do you find those maps? Our local Title office moved the information to another city 150 miles away and now charges a huge price to search.
Your ancestor’s deed of purchase should indicate from whom the property was obtained. Are those records no longer local records?