United States, New York Land Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
This collection contains land and property records from the New York Land Office and county courthouses. The records include land grants, patents, deeds, and mortgages. This collection includes all counties except Franklin, Nassau, and Queens.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records: • 2

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * Names of interested parties
 * Approximate date of the transaction
 * Location of the property

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. This information may lead you to other records about your ancestors.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Add any new information to your records
 * Search for the land transactions of a couple and their children. The parents may have sold or given property to a son or daughter. Such transactions confirm relationships that might not be found in other records
 * Search for records of people in the county who shared a surname. These may have been the couple’s parents, uncles, or other relatives. Your ancestor may have been an heir who sold inherited land that had belonged to parents or grandparents
 * To find later generations, search the land records a few years before and after a person’s death. Your ancestor may have sold or given land to his or her heirs before death, or the heirs may have sold the land after the individual died. For daughters, the names of their husbands are often provided. For sons, the given names of their wives may be included. Heirs may have sold their interest in the land to another heir even though the record may not indicate this. Continue this process for identifying each succeeding generation
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct
 * Some counties were subdivided or the boundaries may have changed. Consider searching neighboring counties as well since that courthouse may have been more convenient for the person
 * One deed does not usually give sufficient information about a couple and their children. A careful study of all deeds for the person or the family will yield a richer return of information
 * For each parcel of land owned, you should obtain two documents:
 * 1) The deed that documents when ownership transferred to the individual or the family and
 * 2) The deed that documents when ownership was transferred to someone else.

I Can't Find the Person I'm Looking For, What Now?

 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames
 * Look for nicknames and abbreviated names
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby counties

Research Helps
The following articles will help you research your family in the state of New York.
 * New York Guided Research
 * New York Research Tips and Strategies
 * Step-by-Step New York Research, 1880-Present
 * Beginning United States Land and Property Research

Other FamilySearch Collections
These collections may have additional materials to help you with your research.

FamilySearch Catalog

 * E. Wade Hone. Land & property research in the United States Salt Lake City, Utah : Ancestry Publishing, c1997 FHL 973 R27h
 * New York, Secretary of State, Deeds, 1659-1846
 * New York, Secretary of State, Field books, New York, 1701-1848
 * New York, Mortgages, 1807-1824, 1877-1878 approx., by index 1784-1973
 * New York, Secretary of state, Patents of the state of New York, 1649-1912
 * New York, Secretary of State, Releases and conveyances, 1787-1900

FamilySearch Historical Records

 * New York Probate Records, 1629-1971

FamilySearch Digital Library

 * arranged under direction of the Christopher Morgan, Secretary of State. by E. B. O'Callaghan, The documentary history of the state of New York 4 volumes in 8 Albany, New York : Weed, Parson, Public Printers, 1849
 * Calendar of N. Y. colonial manuscripts, indorsed land papers; in the office of the secretary of state of New York, 1643-1803 Albany, New York : Weed Parson and Co. Printers, 1864

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.

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