A lawyer, a court clerk, a judge, etc. usually prepared a deed and the buyer, seller, seller's wife and witnesses then signed the document. The earlier the date of a deed the more likely it was that the person preparing the deed knew everyone involved and the preparer wrote everyone's names as they were pronounced. This change of spelling can often give you a clue as to how the name was pronounced at the time your ancestor was alive. This is a spelling that you should always check for. Deeds also often state relationships, for those that don't, relationships can be inferred from the transactions themselves.
Deeds are thus indispensable for all pedigrees even for ancestors who resided in cities.
Every piece of property in the US can be traced back to the federal government, state government, foreign government or English owner. Let's take a look at the terms that are found in land records and what they mean. All property in the US can be traced back to the First Title Deed. Private Land claims document titles for land originally owned by France or Spain. If your ancestor lived in an area that changed flags, you may find up to 6 generations of genealogy in the case files.