Copyright 1997 Jean R. Legried. Use only with permission. Beginning Genealogy Lesson 3 Court House/County Research This lesson will be longer than the previous two because there is a lot of material to cover. :) The definition and use of records, as well as the differentiation as to whether a record is to be considered as public or non-public, is regulated by state law. The laws differ from state to state -- what is a public record in one state may be non-public in another. Acquaint yourself with the laws in the states where you will be searching. Where these records are kept can also vary from state to state. In some states, especially the northeastern states, these records are considered as town, municipal, or village records and will be found in these repositories. In other states they are county records and will be found in the county courthouse. County boundaries changed so what is considered Washington County now may well have been a part of a neighboring county during the era you are researching. It has also happened that a county has two courthouses! A good reference to help you determine county boundaries, years, and record locations is THE HANDY BOOK FOR GENEALOGISTS, 8th ed., edited by George B. Everton (Logan, Utah: The Everton Publishers, 1991) Call ahead to determine the hours and record availability. When you go to a courthouse or town office, know what you are looking for. Be firm (genealogists aren't the clerk favorite customers!) but friendly. Dress as a business person, not in blue jeans and a sloppy sweatshirt. Treat the records with respect. Thank the clerk when you leave. PUBLIC RECORDS THAT CAN BE USED AS GENEALOGICAL RESOURCES VITAL RECORDS 1. Birth certificates 2. Marriage licenses and intentions to marry 3. Marriage license returns 4. Marriage records 5. Death certificates Only 18 states (by law) registered vital records before 1900: Vermont (1779), Massachusetts (1842), New Jersey (1843), Connecticut (1859), Hawaii, Rhode Island Virginia (1853), Delaware (1861), Florida (1865), Michigan (1867), Arizona, Iowa, New Hampshire, New York (1880), Illinois (1887), Maine (1892), North Dakota (1893), Maryland (1898). Other states have records before 1900 but they are incomplete. Errors occurred in these records and, since there wasn't an uniform reporting system, some events were never recorded. Early Americans were a religious people, however, and kept good church records. Much of this information can therefore be found in church records. (These records will be covered in a later lesson.) LAND RECORDS A very important approach to family history is through land records. These records relating to the buying and selling of land yield bits of family and local history. Land records include deeds, mortgages, leases, liens, contracts, powers of attorney, releases, notices of action, judgments, and decrees. Much family history can be gleaned through a careful search of deeds. This is especially true in the case of an estate of a person who died without leaving a will. When real estate is involved it becomes necessary to "quiet the title." Such a file will give the names and residences of living children, as well as any children who may be deceased and the children of the deceased children. A deed often mentions relationships between the grantee and the grantor. It can also give you a clue as to where the seller moved if he wasn't able to sell the land before he had to move or if he bought it before he moved to the area. There is a great deal that can be learned from land records -- much more than just the legal description of the land. A informative article relating to land records is "Retracing the Trails of Your Ancestors Using Deed Records", GENEALOGY BULLETIN, no. 25, Jan-Feb 1995. TAX RECORDS If a person owned real or personal property, they had to pay taxes! Even if your ancestor wasn't a land owner, he still had to pay a personal property tax. These records often are not indexed and are hard to search but they can give you valuable information about your ancestor's financial and personal status. If a man is shown as a tax payer in 1815 but his wife is the payer in 1816, you have a clue as to when to look for a probate file. PROBATE RECORDS These are my personal favorite! Ask for a probate file, not just a will, beause the complete file has so much more to offer. There is probably no source material more important in family history than probate files. They consist largely of wills and administrations and other documents relating to the settlement of the estate of the deceased or incompetent person. In a man's will he named his wife and children, or, if he did not leave a will, the court determined his heirs and distributed his estate to his widow and children. In either case, the family group was determined by sound legal evidence. A will is primary material and is presented in the first person, as though the testator was speaking directly to you and bonding generations past and present. To properly evaluate the information found in a probate, it is necessary to become familiar with the social conventions of the time. This is a lengthy study and too much to include here. Your public library will have books that explain such social conventions and there is a short but informative section on the subject in KNOW YOUR ANCESTORS by Ethel W. Williams, Ph.D (Rutland, Vt: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1960). NATURALIZATION RECORDS There was no regulation of naturalization until 1906, when Congress established the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization. Before 1906 naturalization was a matter for the courts. The process of naturalization is quite cumbersome and the records have suffered because of it. The laws concerning naturalization changed many times so the ecords that are available depend on the era your ancestor immigrated. Before 1906 naturalization was a court matter and records will be found on the court records. After 1906 many records can be found in the National Archives Branches or in the Immigration and Naturalization Service. An excellent book on the subject is LOCATING YOUR IMMIGRANT ANCESTOR by James C. and Lila Lee Neagles (Logan, UT: Everton Publishers, Inc., 1975) COURT RECORDS These are very important records but are seldom used. Court records are divided into two categories -- criminal and civil. Civil actions deal with the protection of individual rights and, generally speaking, every civil action has two parties: plaintiff and defendant. Both civil and criminal court files are indexed. The United States court system is too lengthy to be discussed here but your public library will have helpful books. DIVORCE RECORDS A divorce is a matter for the courts. Information on the children and their ages and personal data on the divorcing couple can be found in the file. In recent years many clerk of court offices have established a separate index for divorce records but earlier ones will be found in the civil court files. MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS a. Register of voters b. Coroner's files c. Minutes of Board of Supervisors/Commissioners meetings * These can be helpful to find someone who was buried "by the county" in the early years and doesn't have a death certificate or grave marker and for information on people who lived at the Poor Farm. d. Miscellaneous records pertaining to land * These will sometimes give relationships. e. Military records * Discharge certificates * DD-214 (separation papers) * Filing these records was up to the individual veteran so the records aren't complete. WORDS AND TERMS USED IN PUBLIC RECORDS ABSTRACT - A summary of the important points in a book or manuscript. ABSTRACTOR - A person who prepares an abstract. ABSTRACT OF TITLE - An epitome of the successive conveyances and other facts upon which a person's title to a piece of land rests. ADMINISTRATION - The management and disposal, under the local authority, of the estate of an intestate, or of a testator having no competent executor. ADMINISTRATOR - A person to whom letters of administration, that is authority to administer the estate of a deceased person, have been granted by the proper court. He/She differs from an executor in that he is appointed by the court, while the executor is appointed by the deceased. ADMINISTRATION WITH WILL ANNEXED - Administration granted where the testator has appointed no executor, or where his/her appointment of an executor, for any cause, has failed, as by death, incompetency or refusal to act. ANTENUPTIAL CONTRACT - A contract made before marriage, between a man and a woman in respect to their property rights. APPLICATION, LAND - A formal request for rights in, or eventual title to public lands. ATTEST - To witness the execution of a written instrument, at the request of one who makes it, and subscribe to the same as a witness. BEQUEST - A gift by will; a legacy. BOUNTY LAND - Land given by the government, as a bounty, usually in compensation for military service. BOUNTY LAND WARRANT - A right granted for military service, involving a specific number of acres of unallocated public land. CADASTRAL SURVEY, MAP OR PLAT - A public land survey for the purpose of registering the quantity, value, and ownership of real estate, used in apportioning taxes; usually made on a scale of 25" to the mile, or a square inch to the acre. CODICIL - An instrument made subsequently to a will, and modifying it in some respects. It must be executed in the same manner as the will itself, and forms a part of it. DEED - A sealed instrument in writing, duly executed, and delivered, by which one person conveys land, tenements, or hereditaments to another. DEVISEE - A person to whom lands or other real property are devised or given by will. DIVISOR - A giver of lands of real estate by will; a testator. DISTRICT LAND OFFICE PLAT BOOKS - Books of maps which show the location of the land of the patenter. DISTRICT LAND OFFICE TRACT BOOKS - Books which list individual entries by range and township. DONATION APPLICATION - An application for frontier land in Florida, New Mexico, Oregon or Washington, which was given to a settler and fulfilled certain conditions. ET. AL.; ET ALIBI; ET ALII - And others; on a land deed, is a clue to look for "the others". EXECUTOR - A person appointed by a testator to carry out the directions and requests of his/her will, and to dispose of the property according to his/her testamentary provisions, that are to be carried out after his/her death. An EXECUTRIX is a female executor. GRANT - To give or bestow, as a land grant. GRANTEE - A person to whom a grant is made. GRANTOR - A person by whom a grant is made. HOLOGRAPHIC WILL - A will made in the handwriting of the testator. INTESTATE - Not having made a will; not disposed of by will. INVENTORY - A list of the assets in the estate of a deceased person, filed by executor, or administrator of an estate, in probate court. LAND ENTRY PAPERS - Papers filed in connection with the acquisition of public lands, and including bounty land warrants, donation, pre-emption and homestead applications, private land claims, land scrip and purchase by cash or in installments. They include the name of the person who acquired the land, his place of residence, dates when application and land were entered, and date of patent. LEGACY - A bequest left by last will and testament. LEGAL DESCRIPTION - The description and identification of the location of a particular parcel of land, according to the official plat of survey. LIBER - A book in which deeds, mortgages, wills and other public records are kept. NUNCUPATIVE WILL - An unwritten will, having been declared or dictated by the testator in his/her last sickness, before a sufficient number of witnesses, and afterwards reduced to writing. PATENT - A document which transfers legal title to public lands. PATENTEE - A person who receives a patent. PRE-EMPTION APPLICATION - An application by a person who had already settled on unappropriated land. PRIVATE LAND CLAIM - A claim to land granted to individuals from foreign countries prior to the cession of that land to the United States. These were in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Colorado, and New Mexico. PROBATE - The process of proving a will or settling an estate. PUBLIC DOMAIN - Public lands of the United States; comprised, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, part of Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and all states west of the Mississippi River except Texas, Hawaii, and Alaska. STATUS PLAT - A copy of the plat of survey upon which has been diagrammed and noted such information as is necessary to determine the Federal ownership of public lands and resources. TESTAMENT - The disposition of one's property after death. TESTATE ESTATE - An estate which is disposed by will. TESTATOR - A deceased person who died leaving a will. TRACT BOOK - A narrative, journal-like record which is an index to and digest of all essential actions and transactions which effect public lands. District Land Office Tract Books list entries by range and township. WARRANT - To guarantee to a purchaser or other grantee, the title to, or quality, or quantity of, the thing sold or granted, as a warranty deed. WILL - Any legally executed instrument in which a person makes disposition of his/her property to take effect after his/her death. If you have a question about this lesson, contact me at or on the GEN-NEWBIE list. Copyright 1997 Jean R. Legried. Use only with permission. Jean R. Legried, CGRS Norwegian-American research specialist from southern Minnesota jrl@smig.net "Life is the rosebud, Eternity the rose."