International Internet Genealogical Society University
US LAND & PROPERTY RESEARCH
LESSON II
TERMINOLOGY IN LAND & PROPERTY RESEARCH
Answers to Review Questions From Lesson I:
Q. Name the four foreign nations who held vast amounts of land in the United States in the period 1500-1840.
A:France, Spain, England and Mexico.
Q. Explain the"headright system" of granting land.
A. The headright system of granting land consisted of granting a certain amount of land to the head of a household and an additional amount for each additional family member.
Q. Explain what constitutes a "loyalist claim" and where the original records of these claims are now held
A. Loyalist claims were efforts by the British to compensate those in the colonies loyal to England in the Revolutionary War who lost their lands by confiscation during that war. The original records are held in the Public Record Office in Surrey, England.
Q.Under the British rule, what task did a "proprietorship" perform?
A. A proprietorship was responsible for granting lands from the charter granted to a larger land company, and acted as agent for the charter holder, and therefore, also for the crown.
Q.To what geographical area do most of the French land records pertain?
A. Primarily present-day Louisiana.
Q.Name the record collection which details Mexican land transactions in California.
A. Spanish Archives.
LESSON II
TERMINOLOGY IN LAND & PROPERTY RESEARCH
Now that you have some basic knowledge of the early history of land and property transfer in the colonies and early United States era, we are ready to move into a more specific study of types of land transactions and how to read and understand their contents as it relates to genealogy.
Before we involve ourselves too deeply in the study of land records, however, it is vitally important that we understand the terminology connected with, and used in, land transfer documents. Novices(and even some veterans)in genealogy are often dismayed and can become frustrated at what seems to be an unending string of various terms and phrases which appear in land transaction documents and in other materials relating to those documents. This lesson will deal with nothing but terminology and you should make an effort to learn the material in this segment, because, without this key knowledge, you will find research in land transactions to be very difficult.
When you open a deed book, which is nothing more than a collection deeds for a specific place and a specific time, you may come upon a number of different types of transactions. The most common is the Deed of Sale, also known as an Indenture. This is the instrument used to transfer property, which was ordinarily land, but could be something else, such as livestock, household goods, or other types of belongings. There are also Deeds of Gift, which are easily determined by the language which they contain, such as "..for the love and affection...". It is also important for the genealogist to note what the type and amount of the consideration may be, inasmuch as some deeds of gift may not contain phrases with terms such as "love and affection", but if the consideration stated is minimal, as, for example, "...for $1 and other good and valuable consideration...", there is a good possibility that the grantee(the receiver of the property)is related to the grantor(the seller or giver of the property). There are also deeds which were Mortgage Sales. These types of deeds require careful scrutiny. If the language in the deed contains the words, "Deed of Mortgage", you are assured that it is that type of instrument. However, if that phrase is not in the deed, you may find in the deed's contents, usually toward the end, a phrase which may state that the sale in question is void if party A pays to party B a stated amount by a certain date, for example, "...sale to be void if said Jones pays the $200 hereinbefore noted to Jackson by November 1st...". This is simply a mortgage loan with the land as collateral. It is important to watch for what appear to be numerous sales of the same parcel of property by the same owner. These will most likely contain language as noted above and are mortgage sales.
You will also often find deed instruments which are defined as a Strawman Sale. You can identify these types of sales by the fact that they often occur on the same day(or within a day or two of each other)and constitute an effort by the parties involved to eliminate some legal restrictions which may have been present in the original instrument. The process used is this: Jones sells to Smith, then Smith sells to Brown(or, in many cases, Smith sells back to Jones). Smith is the strawman in the sale, and is usually a trusted friend who acted as an intermediary in the sale. These types of sales could be used to alter the types of ownership(such as two individuals owning property and one wished to sell his portion to the other, where the law would not allow a simple transfer of part or joint ownership). You may also find Estate Settlements in deed books, in which there may be sales from "heirs of so-and-so", for example, to other family members or to an outside buyer. Be aware, however, that you can also occasionally find deeds connected with estate settlements in will and probate records, and such deeds may never have been transferred into the county deed books.
When working with land transactions documents, you will most likely be faced with either the Metes and Bounds system of specific land location, or the Federal Township and Range system. In most of the states in the US in which land was initially controlled and granted by the states - known as "state-land states", the metes and bounds system was used to measure off and determine property size and location. In the "Federal Land States", in which the original grant was made by the federal government, the township and range system was employed, although there are some states, such as Kentucky, in which both systems were used. Both of these systems of land measurement will be discussed in detail in the next lesson.
Listed below are some terms connected with deeds in general and with land measurement that you should study carefully before proceeding to the next lesson. A thorough knowledge and understanding of these terms will greatly facilitate your ability to understand the following lessons and to do your own research with ease when you see these terms in the records you research.
- Acre - Unit of area containing 43560 square feet, or 10 square chains or 160 square poles. A square mile is composed of 640 acres
- Chain - Unit of length equal to 66 feet, or 4 poles. A mile equals 80 chains.
- Hectare - Area measurement equal to 2.47 acres.
- Pole - May also be called "rod". Equal to 16.5 feet. An acre equals 160 square poles. When used to measure area, it was equal to a square with each side one pole in length.
- Vara - Often found in Spanish land transactions and is equal to approximately 33 inches.
- Call - The feature, measurement, or landmark noted in surveys, such as, for example, "three black walnut trees on Smith's line" is a call.
- Corner - the point of beginning, change, or end of a survey line.
- Meander - refers to the natural run of a land feature, such as the turns of a river or stream. Often stated as, "...with the meanders of the creek...", etc.
- POB - Point of Beginning - the starting point of a survey.
- Section - a one mile by one mile square, containing 640 acres and used as the basic unit of the township and range land measuring system
- Township - consists of 36 sections, measuring 6 miles by 6 miles, and numbered beginning in the uppermost NE section, then numbering west to 6, then along the west boundary to the next section, then east, etc.Used in the township and range measuring system.
- Range - townships received ranges by measuring east or west of a "Principal Meridan".
- Range lines - Township boundary lines running north to south.
- Township lines - Township boundaries marked by lines running east to west.
- Base Line - Beginning point for the measurement of north or south townships.
- Principal Meridian - Beginning point for measuring east or west ranges.
- Dower - the wife's interest in the property of her husband.
- Escheat - Land ownership reverting to the government or the estate due to lack of heirs.
- Executor - the individual named in a will to handle the settling of the estate of the deceased.
- Fee Simple - Ownership of land which is inheritable, i.e., to own "in fee simple".
- Grant - The transfer of title to property by the governing body to the first owner of that property. May also be called a "Patent".
- Grantee - The individual receiving the property by grant or by sale.
- Grantor - The individual or government transferring the property by grant, or selling it.
- Patent - Usually seen in crown grants and other early transfers. Same definition as "Grant".
- Quitclaim Deed - A deed in which the seller gives up any claim to rights on the property in question, but does not guarantee that the title to the property is clear from any other claims.
- Warrant - An order by a government authorizing an action. In land transactions, it most often refers to an order allowing a surveyor to survey land for an individual in preparation for the issuance of a grant.
Lesson II Review Examination
- Name 3 types of deeds found in deed books.
- What language in a deed might be indicative of a deed-of-gift?
- Explain the difference between a "State-land State" and a "Federal-land State".
- Define "Quitclaim Deed".
- Explain a "Strawman Sale"
Answers to the above questions will be given at the beginning of Lesson III