Using Land Records Using Land Records By Myra Vanderpool Gormley, CG Some of our ancestors probably hid from census takers, believing they were tax assessors. Your progenitors could have been married by an itinerant preacher and the record was obliterated by a rainstorm that soaked the minister, his horse and saddlebag. But before you despair of finding your elusive family, go to the land records. Even if your ancestor lived in a county whose courthouse burned, the land records usually were re-recorded. He probably did not bother to make the long trip to the courthouse to re- register a marriage record, but he did to prove he owned a piece of property.
Land ownership is why most of our families came to America.
Before the genealogy bug bit millions of us the county offices of recorders and auditors were only visited by abstractors, attorneys, realtors or a prospective buyer checking on what a piece of property had sold for in the past. Today you need to know what records are available in these offices, how to use and interpret them before you visit or write. Land records are public records and one of the most interesting sources you will use for genealogical purposes. Usually the custodian of deeds and other land records is known as recorder. In some counties the office is called auditor, county clerk or circuit court clerk.