Roots and branches Researching your geneaology

Question: I have been looking for a deed to my ancestor's land and have been unable to find it, although I know they had property in the area. It seems the records are complete for the county, so where could the record be?

Answer: The deed can sometimes be elusive for several reasons:

-- The deed may not have been recorded at the courthouse. This was not necessary, as long as the owner of the property possessed the deed. The trip to the courthouse may have been too long, or the process of recording may not have been understood.

-- Deeds were taken to the courthouse to be recorded - maybe 100 years later, making them hard to locate. Some deeds were left for recording and never picked up by the owner.

-- The land may have passed from parent to child by will, sometimes for generations. The oldest son may have just taken over the land. No deed was required to transfer land this way. When the land was finally deeded out of the family, there may have been a list of owners of several generations, enabling the family line to be traced. From a warrantee map, it should be possible to determine the present location of the land.

-- The county in which the land is located may have changed, and the record may be in a different county. Check "The Handy Book for Genealogists" or "The Source" - both give dates of the counties and when they were changed, and what records cover what periods of time. The Doris Foley Historical Library in Nevada City and the Madelyn Helling Library have these sources.

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