[Genealogy] Land records have you confused? We have the answer.

[Michael John Neill]

*Special Announcement*

*Land records have you confused? We have the answer.*

Reading the Deed Books: US Local Land Records for Genealogists

There are a lot of records your ancestor may have avoided being listed in.
But if he bought or sold land, there was a record created to document that
transfer and a copy of that record was probably made at the local court
house. Even if your ancestor never bought or sold the land he owned, he may
appear in local land records.  Deeds are some of the most reliable records
we have, and genealogists overlook them all the time.

This presentation covers the land records kept at the county and town level
in the United States and the general structure and form of a deed itself
along with land record terminology.  We'll talk about how the records are
usually organized, how to use grantor and grantee indexes (and what to do
when they fail you), and why the record you need might be sitting in a
parent county formed fifty years earlier. Local land records are not just
deeds, we'll look at mortgages, releases, powers of attorney, and the land
divisions that followed a death.

We'll also spend time on what a deed can tell you beyond the sale itself.
The legal phrasing often hides useful clues, and the details people skim
past, like witnesses, neighbors, or a wife releasing her dower, can point
to relatives and connections you didn't know about. We will look at
examples from a variety of US locations.

Searching these records can always be done onsite, but we will also talk
about accessing them where possible via FamilySearch (including manual
browsing and using full-text search where applicable).

You should be comfortable with basic research before signing up.

Presentation and handout included.

Receive recording only by 19 October 2026 for $15.99
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=3M24AP7JGYQG2>

Purchase recording for delivery by 19 October 2026 and participate in a
one-time question and answers session regarding land deeds on 26 October
starting at 7:30 pm central time via zoom
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=3M24AP7JGYQG2>
.

Michael John Neill has actively researched his genealogy forever forty
years, descends from generations of land-owning farmers, and has utilized
land records in his own research extensively during that time. He is a
former community college math instructor with a master’s degree in
mathematics.
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