I have had on occasion a need to research records going back to the beginning of the history of Chickasaw County, Mississippi, which was started in 1836. Patent deeds and land ownership records from 1836 to 1863 during the Civil War were destroyed by Union soldiers (see attached image) in an interesting part of our local history. I am on a committee board for a cemetery association in the northern part of the county where the old cemetery is located on an old road (Toxish to Cotton Gin Port Road) near my baptist church (started in 1832). Both of these places existed during the civil war, and historical records make references to both. I am in need of a deed that makes mention of a major part of the land on which our cemetery is located. Currently, the USFS claims ownership, but we have had possession since the wife of the namesake of our cemetery (Halsell) was buried there in 1845 on family land. Her tombstone lies on land we have a deed for, but a few inches away lies the section line where we do not have a deed and where her grave is located along with her husband. I need any record that I can find that gives us legal claim to that part of the cemetery that we do not have a deed for. There are hundreds of graves across this section line, and no deed in the chain of title makes mention of a cemetery. Of course, everyone since then knew about the cemetery, so no mention was ever made in any instrument that I can find! No provisions were made from the Halsell people to their successors in title on down to reserve or say "subject to" or even mention a family cemetery that has grown to its present size. The Great Depression caused the land to be lost to the government in the 1930's, and the USA has owned the land since then. The USFS want a "land use agreement" from us; we want a quitclaim deed from them; hence a standoff. We were there first, and the land was subject to prior use before they got it. As a PLS and a Board Member, I have leaned toward "letting sleeping dogs lie". Oh, well.:-/
Damn Yankees!!:-P
A little secret that the USFS hasn't told you about is that your state and county laws and ordinances control the cemetery, and if you go to court to quiet your title in it, it will not be decided by the Feds but by your local county court.
That is correct.
BTW, I once worked with an engineer who hailed from Pontotoc, Mississippi. Wonderful fellow. His son married a lovely gal that was in high school with me. In turn, their daughter, another lovely lass, went to Vanderbilt to study chemical engineering on an exceptionally nice scholarship.
I was trying to do some family tree research in Anniston, Alabama. My family owned land on the eastern edge of what became Fort McClellan. Well, when I went to the courthouse, I was told all of the old records were burned by the yankees. Not because the courthouse burned, but because they thought it was going to be burned, so they took the records to Talladega and that courthouse was burned instead. You can't win for loosing.
Yamn Dankees!
Same thing happened in my county. Deed books were being moved to protect them, Yamn Dankees caught up with the wagon, and burned the wagton and contents.
Yamn Dankees!
They say the first casualty of war is the truth.
Apparently the second is the deeds.......;-)
Yamn Dankees!
> They say the first casualty of war is the truth.
>
>
> Apparently the second is the deeds.......;-)
They make good camp fire fuel
Hear! Hear!
I second the motion.
Yamn Dankees!
The burned all the deeds so they could come down and steal land after the war was over. It's a lot easier to cloud the title without a recorded deed.
the spoils
> The burned all the deeds so they could come down and steal land after the war was over. It's a lot easier to cloud the title without a recorded deed.
what's the sense of fighting a war if you don't get some territory out of it?
And it's probably a good idea the Yankees burned all the records or else Tommy may have found out he's got some Yankee blood in him. :-O
Yamn Dankees!
well, they weren't stupid!
Thanks for the info!:-D
the spoils
Actually, there is some evidence I do. According to ancestry.com, my Young ancestors were in New England prior to 1750. That goes back about two generations prior to what I am comfortable with. There's too much false information on that site to know anything for sure. Either way, the fact still remains that I have NO evidence whatsoever that any of my ancestors were living outside of the south since 1800. If that little dab on ancestry.com makes me a yankee, than I guess everyone is.
Youngs
I started an ancestrycom search this past spring and I found out that my ancestors named Hill first arrived in The US around 1851. They were boys of 11 and 9 years old who were accompined by an Uncle and Aunt named Young. My GGGf was the 9 yr old.
They became machinists in the industrial town of Paterson. The aunt Ellen Young became a step mother to them.
So the name Young is in my ancestor tree. Ellen Young was a nee Mclaren also. So I find it interesting that the boys became machinists.
My brother visited SLC this suimmer and spoke with a LDS geniaologist. They said that if you find any Youngs in your tree that they would do a thorough search to any info of your ancestry to Brigham Young.
Youngs
Well, it would be neat to be able to claim relation to Steve Young.
