Determining landowning neighbors of your landowning ancestor in federal land states (where property is generally described in townships and sections) requires knowledge of the legal description of the property. You have to know where the property is located. This can be obtained on the deed of acquisition or sale, a will where the property was bequeathed, an estate inventory, etc.
Deeds in federal land states infrequently mention adjacent landowners. Here are some places to determine who those nearby property owners are:
- county atlases of landowners–frequently called platbooks
- property tax records–often organized geographically
- tract or parcel indexes that index land transactions geographically
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Thank you so much much for this particular information. I have been looking for some property that some family members gave to a school district and I was curious if they still owned it and how far it went. It was about 200 acres.This was over 100 years ago .My curiosity gets the better of me sometimes. The wording was what I was having trouble with just what it was I was looking for. Big help!