L is for Land Records

 

Earlier in the month we mentioned the National Archives and the Library and Archives of Canada as places to find land records. In the U.S. the records of the Bureau of Land Management are found at the National Archives here: http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/049.html

Land records for a person within a town or city in the US are located at the county level usually. Check the state's website, link to the county of interest (make sure the timeperiod covers the county or else you risk looking in the wrong place); and then see where the local Registry of Deeds is located. They have land ownership maps and/or plat books (depending on the part of the U.S. in which you are researching) that are very helpful for getting a lay of the land so to speak.

Christine Sharbrough