[Genealogy] Calculating an Age Range, Survey Maps, and More
Michael John Neill
mjnrootdig at gmail.com
Thu Oct 8 09:02:26 CDT 2026
Genealogy Update 6 October 2026
** Calculating an Age Range
** new---US Local Land Records Webinar---new
** Survey Maps
** new--Using AI to Maximize Your Full-Text Search
** Recorded Webinars
-----------------------------
Calculating an Age Range
-----------------------------
Ages given in any document can easily be incorrect. That doesn’t mean they
should not be analyzed.
The Civil War pension for Riley Rampley provides six ages for him at
different times. I was curious just how consistent these ages were.
The six ages provided in the pension application are shown on the chart.
The dates on which the ages were given range from 1886 through 1893.
Those ages were used to create a range of birth dates for each age. Then to
see how consistent the birth date ranges were a timeline was created. The
ages were not entirely consistent, but they were relatively close. Given
that ages can easily be off by a year or two in any given record, this is
not a surprise.
All of the ages given are consistent with a date of birth between July and
October of 1835. That’s not a wide range of dates. Riley’s “known” date of
birth of 25 August 1835 falls within that range.
Ages given for individuals will not always be consistent, but if you’ve got
a person with varying ages such an analysis may be helpful in reaching a
conclusion about when they probably were born.
And it may also help you to determine if one age is so far off from the
others that it might have been a clear error.
The assumptions I made in this analysis were that:
- Riley knew his age
- Riley provided his age for all the documents in this study
- Riley was always able to remember his age
It’s always a good idea to write down your assumptions when doing any
analysis. You can’t know which assumptions may not be valid later if you’ve
not listed them.
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US Local Land Records Webinar
----------------------------
*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.
------------------------
Survey Maps
------------------------
The settling of estates frequently requires surveys and metes and bounds
descriptions of property, regardless of whether the property is in a state
where sections and townships are used. The image at the top of this post
is from a survey conducted in 1940 apparently to settle up the estate of
John Habben. The survey also includes a metes and bounds description of the
property which is not included here.
This plat was recorded in April of 1940 in Hancock County, Illinois, for
property in sections 21 and 22 of Prairie Township (Township 5-7). John
Habben owned the southeast quarter of section 21 (which is where Mimka
Habben’s property was located) and the southwest quarter of section 22
(which is where Louis Habben’s property was located).
John Habben, the father of these three men, actually owned an additional 80
acres in Prairie Township. The 1908 Hancock County plat book shows the
Habben property–80 acres in Section 20 (J. Habben), 155 acres in section 21
(J. M. Habben), and 155 acres in section 22 (J. M. Habben).
The 80 acres in section 20 was given to John’s son Henry and the 310 acres
in sections 21 and 22 was split among the Mimka, Louis, and George as shown
in the first illustration.
The 1908 plat book is not entirely accurate–as they often aren’t. The
highway running along the southern part of the farm in section 22 is the
problem. The survey plat indicates that the Habbens actually owned a tiny
sliver of land in section 27 which is to the south of section 22. This
triangular piece of property is indicated in brown on the image below which
was enlarged from the survey map.
It is simply too small for the county atlas to show correctly. In fact the
survey simply refers to it as “strip off the north west quarter of section
27 about one rod wide and lying north of the hedge fence.”
------------------------------
These maps are usually filed in the local recorder’s office in the county
where the property is located. Finding them may take a little patience.
Locations that have a tract index (also known as a parcel or lot index)
usually include references to surveys in their appropriate sections of that
index. That’s how the survey map in this illustration was located.
*Using AI to Maximize Your Full-Text Searching at FamilySearch*
Are you getting the most from full-text search? Are you considering all the
options? Are you feeling overwhelmed even though you know what the purposes
of all the boxes are?
AI can help organize and structure your full-text searches at FamilySearch.
It can be used to create a customized research log to track all the various
searches you perform at the site and all you need to do is indicate the
search was performed and what the results were.
It is still important for you to know how full-text search at FamilySearch
works–you cannot effectively problem solve if you don’t–but AI can make
your full-text searches more efficient. The best use of full-text search is
using it to find as much as possible–not just the low hanging fruit that
one often finds when simply typing in a name. Could there be more that you
could find with full-text search?
We will see in this presentation how to use AI to take your use of
full-text search to the next level.
You will get the most out of this presentation if you are already familiar
with how to use full-text search.
Order a copy of the AI presentation only–release date of 18 October
2026–for $16.99
<https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=QUZM9TS8GBEVQ>
(introductory rate).
Order a copy of our other full-text search presentations:
-
Full-Text Search at FamilySearch
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/08/05/updated-familysearch-full-text-search-webinar/>–download
immediate
-
Full-Text Search at FamilySearch with Common Names
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2025/11/04/common-names-at-familysearch-full-text-webinar/>–download
immediate
--------------------
Webinars
--------------------
Ready-to-Go Webinars from Michael–download immediate:
-
AI as a Genealogy Consultant
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/using-ai-as-a-genealogy-consultant/>
--New!
-
Creating Children’s Stories from Genealogy Events
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/creating-childrens-stories-from-genealogy-information/>
-
Creating Families from pre-1850 Census Records
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/creating-families-from-pre-1850-census-records/>
-
DeedMapper webinars
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/deedmapper-intro-and-more-deedmapper-webinars/>
-
FamilySearch Catalog
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/02/19/using-the-familysearch-catalog-webinar/>
-
Farming Ancestor webinars–landowner and non-landowner versions
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/rooting-around-for-farmers-and-tenants-and-laborers/>
-
Full-Text Search at FamilySearch
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/08/05/updated-familysearch-full-text-search-webinar/>
-
Full-Text Search at FamilySearch with Common Names
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2025/11/04/common-names-at-familysearch-full-text-webinar/>
-
How Errors Get in Records
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/how-errors-get-in-records-webinar/>
-
Illinois Genealogy Research
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2026/03/10/genealogy-research-in-illinois-webinar/>
-
Metes and Bounds With AI–platting and analysis
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/using-ai-for-metes-and-bounds-deed-analysis/>
-
Unburying Funeral Home Records
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/unburying-funeral-home-records/>
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Michael John Neill
Genealogy Tip of the Day
PO Box 17
Henderson, IL 61439
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