Land records are frequently very important in genealogical research. Not only do you know where they lived, but you also locate things like an old cemetery, another family member living down the road, sometimes, you can find out who basically traveled together by the area they settle, the day they filed for property [ US patented land or later, through the Homestead Act], or if they bought the property from a previous owner, not the goverment. The disposition of land is equally as important.
To enter into a search for very early land records, you must work from this current time period backwards, or much later than the original grants. [Example] If you have a land description from the middle 1800's, then use that as the starting point and work backwards from there. Each step back will be part of the over all picture. You will find as you progress backward, that land holdings tend to increase in size, and fewer owner until you get to the original patentee, land company, etc.
Because Missouri and Callaway County were part of the Louisiania Purchase, the following statement is of importance in very early Callaway County land records.
The French held a large amount of territory in North America, which underwent a series of transfers between foreign governments over the years, but we are familiar with it from our reading of history as "The Louisiana Purchase". For genealogists purposes, you should be aware that there are some French land records found scattered among the Spanish documents, since they interacted over the years and overlapped each other in settling some of the lands. The Superior Council Records are the primary source of information on the French land granting practices. This collection holds everything from mortgages to marriage contracts, civil and land suits, and other valuable information. The coverage of these records is restricted primarily to the areas that we know today as Louisiana, inasmuch as this area was the primary settlement ground for the French. The Superior Council Records are available on microfilm at Tulane University and the Family History Center.
Missouri used the Township, Range and Section method of land surveying in the original survey, as opposed to the "metes and bounds" of other states. [ Note: the original stake for the surveryors use after the Louisiana purchase is at the Louisinia Purchase State Park in Arkansas, the starting point for all lands surveyed in the "Purchase] Plesae refer to bottom of page for explanation of township, section and range surveys.
The terminology used in land claims, deeds, transfers, is important because of the usage of various phrases within a legal document. It is frustrating to not be able to follow the legal phrases. Please continue past this list
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First, there is a "official" deed book maintained by the county recorders office , which is nothing more than a listing of deeds for a specific place, at a certain given time period. ie: Book A, or Book 1, usually denotes the earliest recorded land transfers.
You will find "deed of sale" also known as an "indenture". This the legal document or instrument used to transfer property, real or personal. You will find indentures that contain both real and personal property listings. We tend to think of an indenture as something more than what it is: a contract between two or more parties for various reasons. In land, it is binding contract for the transfer of:
Other deeds found may be "deeds of gift" mostly within the family. Word usage might include "for love and affections", or have a very minor amount of money states, " One Dollar and other considerations". You may have to determine if the deeds you find, fall into this category.
Deed of mortgage or deed of trust is a sale of property with a debt attached in the form of a note against the property. There may be a number of deeds for this same piece of property, indicating that the property has been re-mortgaged on several occasions. Frequently with the original lender.
Quit Claim deeds are frequently found in attachment to other deeds. Quit claim deeds are frequently executed when there are multiple parties to a land transaction. An example being, when there children and parents, all holding title to land, the parents are the primary sellers, the children would then sign quit claim deeds to the parents, relinquishing all claims to the land.
There is another type of deed, frequently refered to a "strawman deed". It has very little to no importance in genealogical research. It only places a person/persons in a given place place on a given date. A "strawman deed' is one where there is a sale or purchase of property, followed by the sale or purchase of the same property within 24 to 48 hours. Smith sells to Jones, then Jones sells to Brown, Brown sells back to Smith,Jones is the strawman in the sale, and is usually a trusted friend who acted as an intermediary in the sale. The reason for these deeds is to circumvent some event concerning the property. There are times that a simple transfer of property from one joint owner to another is prohibited by the original agreement.
Estate sales and settlements of property are found in deed books. Sometimes, this is the only place you will find the disposition of the real property, other than the probate packet.
Land record document work with either or both the Metes and Bounds system or the Township, Section and Range system. In states that originally controlled the property and land grants, the metes and bounds system was used to measure and determine the size of the property. [Not fun].
Township Section and range mapping has made it relatively wasy to find a parcel of land, regardless of the size. A county map or atlas will give all of the information. Find the proper TSR and go from there. There are two types of townships and ranges: Congrssional and Civil or Political.
The basic unit of this system is the section, which contains 640 acres and contains one square mile. From the section, we go to the township, which contains 36 sections, in a 6 by 6 quadrant, measuring 6 miles by 6 miles
A Congressional Township: The basic unit of this system is the section, which contains 640 acres and contains one square mile. From the section, we go to the township, which contains 36 sections, in a 6 by 6 quadrant, measuring 6 miles by 6 miles.The range of a township is determined by east or west measurements from a principal meridan, and range lines are the boundary lines of a township which run north and south, while township lines mark the boundaries of a township running east to west.
A Civil or Political Township may be larger or smaller, but theoretically, a township is a square area of land, containing 36 sections of land, each with 640 acres. Various factions reduce or increase the size of the township; iin particular, the Missouri River in Callaway County, and Cedar Creek on the west.
Section numbers start in the northeast corner as number 1 and continue westward to section 6, then south to 7 and back east to 12, south to 13, etc. ending with Section 36, in the southeast corner of whatever Township, Section and range.
Varying types of land records will be found: bounty land, patent land, transfers of ownership of previously deeded land, New Madrid earthquake patent lands, homestead patents.
