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Rhoda ENGLISH Ladd, formerly of Wellsboro, dedicated a liefetime to the accumulation of genealogical materials which are available at the Tioga County Historical Society in Robinson house in Wellsboro, PA. Thanks to her efforts and accomplishments, today's researchers in Tioga County have available easily accessible research tools which she compiled. These include several volumes of newspaper clipping abstracts, lists of the cemetery burials in the county, Bible records, census data and much more. These volumes are available in many other libraries as well. At her retirement, she also donated the personal genealogy library that she and her husband, William Ladd ,had accumulated. She presently resides out of state, but I think of her every time I so conveniently walk to my shelves to take down the abundance of material she made available to us. When we research in other counties where such materials are not so easily available, we are reminded how fortunate we are to have had such a committed genealogist in our county. We can now build our research on the foundation she created. Thank you, Rhoda.
Deeds- What To Look For
1. Location of the deed book: by county, deed book number, page number.
2. Dates: ( Three Dates to be Secured )
When deed was written: Acknowledged: Recorded:
3. Who Sold the Property: Grantor, party of the 1st part.
4. Who Bought the Property: Grantee, Party of the 2nd part.
5. Residence of both parties by Town, County, State.
6.Location of Property by lot # Town, County--- Mentioned Landmarks i.e. Susquehanna River, Turnpikes, Schools, burying grounds, or compass directions mentioned. Names of persons whose land bounded this parcel, can be helpful in locating on maps or census records. Any other particulars of interest may prove helpful later.
7. Kinds of Title: Is it for love and affection? Is it a deed reserving life use and interest, of the property, quit claim deed where grantors have inherited property but not through actual will? Does it give title to a specified part of a tract of land ( 1/3 d) showing other heirs possibly wife, brothers, and sisters? In any case you are most interested in actual wording. If deed is transferred under a will, a copy of the Will ,will also be included
8. Witness and their Place of Residence: Frequently witnesses with the same surname as grantor or grantee will indicate possible relationships.
9. Date of Acknowledgement: This may be the same day the deed was written or some years later. Did the grantor bring his wife to be interrogated by the clerk as to her willingness to the sale of the property? This may be your only chance to find the given name of the wife, and the proof of a 2nd marriage with the appearance of another given name and the remark- Anna wife of John, was taken aside and stated that she had agreed without duress to the sale of the property. In many cases the removal to another County or State is shown by the Place to which the couple came to acknowledge the sale of the property. Practically no other method is available to secure this information.
10. Recorded Date: This date corresponds with the date shown in the Grantor and Grantee Index Books. It may very well be the same date the deed was written, and again it may be 20 or 30 years later For this reason we suggest you do NOT use a cut off date close to a known moving date. Give yourself benefit of a deed recorded at a much later date.
Buried in all deeds is a great deal of verbiage. Practice will allow one to quickly pick out the essentials and skip the balance. In order that you may see what form a deed may take, we print below one in its entirety. Following this, is the first of several Abstracts which will serve as examples of leads secured through this type of research. We are all well aware that not all of them are perfect examples having all ten parts listed.
When a researcher is pressed for time, enquire of County Clerks’ assistant if it is possible to have photo copies made of entire grantee, grantor lists. Most N.Y. & Pa. counties have this service available at $1.00 per page. Do the earliest deeds first, working up to 1850 census time. If possible, do everyone on your surname. With both lists side by side much time can be saved in doing all the abstracts in Book A before going to Book B. As previously mentioned this will not give you a perfect time progression, but will only give a recorded date progression. It will save you getting down heavy books more than once. Mark your lists "done" to show those deeds abstracted. Another day you will know exactly where to take up again.
Just around this genealogical corner real finds await all who check the land records. Can you afford to neglect this gold mine end of article?
If you are really short of time check grantor index first. Usually if wife signed off with husband, both names show in index. Also the deed selling property normally refers to the deed which shows them acquiring the property. If many surnames to check, this can help you weave back through the pattern to the beginning. Often the late filed deeds are these--- the deeds showing title to property just when the owners get ready to sell, even though they have lived there for years. Anyone who has sold land has to have acquired it earlier-- so if you find him selling land, you know you can find a "grantee" deed somewhere, also. Also any entry in grantor index with "Et al or Et ano" means more than two parties-- likely an estate settlement with all heirs. Check that one out first. The grantee deed will usually give his name and previous place of residence-- grantor his migration pattern west or death, and much more data.
