Things that make you say, “Hmmmm”

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Strictly Surveying

Last Post by holy-cow 3 months ago

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rankin_file

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I spent the majority of the day in the Phillips county Mt Courthouse. They have no online presence, so I needed to come for the loose ends of my research. A ol’ boy patented the guts of section 18, 159+/- ac in 1895. It would become the majority of the future town of Malta. I was haunting the indexes to try to answer a question of city street turned into state RW- did he ever dedicate or deed a portion that was not a part of the 3 additions that bear his name - but is now occupied by A us highway…. Anyway the grantors index was interesting in that the grantor “a widower” per the deeds, was VERY frequently conveying clusters of his lots to a certain “single” woman. ( this woman was a grantor for some tract that’s would be conveyed to The city and state for RW-so her name had come up in my research on it own accord)- I mean really frequently….. like a couple times a week… like consecutive pages of deeds, like frequently… I asked the Clerk and recorder if she had any idea who the “astute” single woman was and neither she nor her deputy knew… I wonder what was the stock in trade?

This topic was modified 3 months ago by rankin_file

Posted : June 23, 2026 10:07 pm

holy-cow

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This is purely a guess, but, I can think of why it may have been done. It was common practice many years ago to use what was called a "straw man" to simplify certain conveyances. It helped if this person had no spouse or children. In some cases, this turned out to be the local attorney's secretary. The owner of the real estate would convey it to the "straw man" who then conveyed it to the intended buyer.

Posted : June 23, 2026 11:52 pm

GaryG

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@holy-cow I have seen that a lot back i the 50's and 60's. the index book would just have pages from owner to lawyer and back to owner and wife.

Made no sense but to charge for an extra deed.

Posted : June 24, 2026 5:24 am

txrpls2099

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That happened a lot back in the late 70s and early 80s. It was mainly developers flipping land, and each time drawing a profit. Much of that inflation caused the bank collapses in the mid 80s, hence the Resolution Trust Corporation or another government bailout. I found one parcel that changed hands 3 times in one day.

Posted : June 24, 2026 5:41 am

holy-cow

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If you Google straw man or straw buyer you may stumble onto the name Disney. They maximized this procedure while buying up half of Florida so they could build Disney World and all of its related businesses. Their buyers couldn't even think about Mickey Mouse when they were making offers to buy. There may have been double layers of buyers to further disguise their plans.

Posted : June 24, 2026 2:08 pm