Locating Your Roots: Discover Your Ancestors Using Land Records [Paperback]

Patricia Law Hatcher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 4, 2003

Locating Your Roots will help researchers find and use American land records in their genealogical research. While these records may not directly give genealogical details, they are a core record group that all genealogists in the United Stated use. With this book, researchers will understand the importance of land records in their family history research, especially for the time period when vital records don't exist and when census records only listed the head of the household. In eleven chapters, which make substantial use of examples and illustrations, this guide will help researchers find land records for their ancestors, and more importantly, how to use and interpret them.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Patricia Law Hatcher is a certified genealogist and Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists, an honourary organisation limited to the top fifty leading genealogists in the nation. She is the author of the instant classic, Producing a Quality Family History.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Betterway Books; 1 edition (March 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558706143
• ISBN-13: 978-1558706149
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,266,114 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another excellent entry in a very good series . . ., May 28, 2003

By 

Michael K. Smith (South Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Locating Your Roots: Discover Your Ancestors Using Land Records (Paperback)

There are fundamental methodological differences in tracing the history of your Pilgrim ancestors, who got off the boat in Massachusetts and never moved away, and your itchy-footed pioneer forebears, who always were on the edge of settlement, forever looking toward the west. (I have a line which, in a single long generation, moved state-by-state from Baltimore in the 1790s to Iowa in the 1830s.) One of the biggest problems is the tendency of early settlers to arrive somewhere ahead of the recordkeeping apparatus - but recording the ownership of land was almost always the first thing put on paper as soon as the government's clerks arrived. These records often are underused, especially in "metes and bounds" states, because ploughing through a three-page description of boundaries can be daunting. Hatcher, a CG and FASG, and a specialist in problem-solving, has an almost inhuman fondness for land records, however, which she largely succeeds in communicating in this book. She leads you carefully through the steps, from locating that first deed (or grant, or confirmation of colonial title), to tracking the later transfers of ownership, to understanding just what it is you're reading, to knowing how to select and record the essentials, to interpreting what it all means. There are plenty of examples and several case studies, plus a detailed bibliography of key maps and gazetteers for each state. She also includes numerous historical sidelights, such as the observation that less than half the federal public lands originally went to individuals. (Think "railroads.") This is an excellent and highly readable text in an important subject.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice entry to an essential area of genealogy., December 12, 2003

By 

dinska "phoenixwinged" (Chicagoland, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Locating Your Roots: Discover Your Ancestors Using Land Records (Paperback)

Land records are important to genealogists in many ways. There's the simplicity of just knowing more about your ancestor, the idea of following migration, but also there's a great feeling of being grounded when you see EXACTLY where it is your ancestor lived and breathed.

It's not a tricky subject, but it can be a dry one, with terms and graphs most people don't think about. This book introduces all those concepts plus shows you how to approach them for the benefit of your family history.

The author tells you all about plat books, city directories, maps, tax records and probate, down to receipts; all as they relate to land ownership. She also tells you some very important things about how your ancestors got that land in the first place, which with colonists and pioneers is exceptionally helpful.

Land records can be confusing. Many times while introducing terms she shows you how to avoid pitfalls you can come across while trying to decipher these records. There is also a thorough glossary and locality reference in the back.

This is an important book for intermediate genealogists. To truly understand your ancestors and to solve some of the puzzles they left behind, you will need to use land records. This is a helpful resource, and definitely one you'll come back to past that first reading.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Bad Service and Evasions, January 26, 2011

By 

Michael Ferguson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Locating Your Roots: Discover Your Ancestors Using Land Records (Paperback)

Product never arrived and when questioned where it was they did make a refund but without answering the question. Note that I ordered *after* Dec. 21 when they supposedly changed shippers. Many of the 5 star reviews must be shills. Do not order from this outfit even if the book seems cheap. Something is very fishy with them and Amazon should give them the boot.