Genealogy research is a bit like painting a picture. The more information obtained, the more hues and dimension the picture has. Census records are an outline; they are the beginning of your picture. Censuses place an individual or family in a given place at a specific time, but they have their limits. If a family moved two or three times in a ten-year period, those other residences may be unknown. Both Nebraska and South Dakota, the two states I know best, had some off-year censuses - South Dakota more than Nebraska - but censuses are still limited in their information.
Land records broaden the picture of a family by adding strokes of color. I like land records. I like finding a specific piece of land on a map. I like visiting a place where an ancestor lived. It gives me a sense of who the person was and what he or she had to deal with. A lot of people seem to shy away from working with land records. I'm not sure why. It could be the process of finding a deed. It could be making sense of the land description. It could be the challenge of looking through big, old books and documents with some almost indecipherable handwriting.
Bear in mind, land records, especially deeds, can be some of the most valuable tools of a genealogist. I must admit that working with land records in the prairie states of Nebraska and South Dakota is easier than in areas that were settled earlier. As with most things, deeds have evolved. Many early deeds were handwritten in language that is now considered arcane and cumbersome. By the time the two states were being settled, the language was changing. A big improvement came in the late 1800s when the use of typewriters increased. Now, there are usually standardized forms with blanks to be filled in.
Land records broaden the picture of a family by adding strokes of color. I like land records. I like finding a specific piece of land on a map. I like visiting a place where an ancestor lived. It gives me a sense of who the person was and what he or she had to deal with. A lot of people seem to shy away from working with land records. I'm not sure why. It could be the process of finding a deed. It could be making sense of the land description. It could be the challenge of looking through big, old books and documents with some almost indecipherable handwriting.
Bear in mind, land records, especially deeds, can be some of the most valuable tools of a genealogist. I must admit that working with land records in the prairie states of Nebraska and South Dakota is easier than in areas that were settled earlier. As with most things, deeds have evolved. Many early deeds were handwritten in language that is now considered arcane and cumbersome. By the time the two states were being settled, the language was changing. A big improvement came in the late 1800s when the use of typewriters increased. Now, there are usually standardized forms with blanks to be filled in.
