Genealogical Society

:good: Neat!

I imagine they would be curious about trying to find where their family lived or how much property they had (if farmers). They might also be curious to track a parcel that has been passed through the family maybe to confirm parents/childrens names?

Sound like a great opportunity.

If possible, you might bring an example where you have an old aerial photo or quad-map highlighting a property that you can show realting to some deed. That might be of interest to them to "see" where a property might be located with reference to their research.

You might shown them how to read a deed and describe what some of the phraseology means.

Introduce them to the probate records and how to use them...

They are going to want to know about land grants, patents, warrants, etc. and how to find record of and then locate same.

Donald beat me to it. Don't forget the "Clerk of Court".

Thank you all for your input! Very much appreciated!

First, I would attempt to learn as much as possible about those most likely to attend the meeting. Aim too low, and they are bored. Aim too high, and they are lost. I would probably ask your contact person to consult a few members and come up with a half dozen questions they think they would like to have addressed. Wing it from there.

I have copies of several wills from the mid 1700s wherein the "willer" is granting specific parcels, with descriptions, to receivers. They are all my White family ancestors. Word of advice when attempting to read said documents: get a book on how to read the old handwriting. Some letters written back then look like others today. Without that book at hand I would have never figured them out much less transcribe them.

I don't have the document, but another member of my Bowen family (Aunt Thelma) found a description of the location of the "old riverboat landing" up in Ohio somewhere during the Civil war days. Bowen is my Dad's Mother's family. Her and her daughter took a road trip from S. IL to Ohio to see what they could find. Loh and behold if the old landing piles weren't still there and exactly where the description took them.

Explain Grantor/Grantee

Some may be going to counties where their grandparents lived and may only know their names and not their addresses. Explain that the Grantee books will find when the ancestors bought the old homestead and the Grantor books will show when their ancestors sold. Explain some of the oddities in the Grantor/Grantee (key letters) indexing methods. Once they can quickly find where the specific deeds are their research chores get easier.

Suppose that the ancestor they were searching for inherited the house, so the record in the deed office may not exist, but they may have mortgaged the house or given an easement to the power company to install poles or for highway widening. Easement would be in Miscellaneous record books but still in the Deed Grantor/Grantee file books and mortgages in the Mortgagor/Mortgagee records. Records that have been compiled on computers may now list everything in a single record file.

When a previous ancestor dies the deed from the executor may include all the siblings and spouses some with names and prior names that may not be familiar adding branches to the family tree.

Paul in PA