Illinois, DeKalb County Land Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
This collection includes land records from 1836 to 1927. The deed books, grantor indexes, and grantee indexes are from the courthouse in Sycamore, Illinois.

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

Land
 * Names of interested parties
 * Date of transaction
 * Legal description of the property
 * Monies exchanged
 * Details of the transaction
 * Names of witnesses
 * Occupations

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor
 * The approximate date of the land transaction
 * The location of the property
 * The names of other parties involved in the land transaction

View the Images
View images in this collection by visiting the :
 * 1) Select the Record Category
 * 2) Select the Record Type, Volume, and Year Range to view the images

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 land record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors.

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

 * Use the names and time periods to locate church and census records
 * Occupations listed can lead you to other types of records such as employment records or military records
 * Search for records of people in the county who shared the 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 generations
 * 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
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby counties

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in the state of Illinois.
 * Illinois Guided Research
 * Illinois Record Finder
 * Research Tips and Strategies
 * Step-by-Step Research

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.
 * Collection Citation: "Illinois, DeKalb County Land Records, 1838-1927." Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 1 August 2016. County Clerk and Recorder, Sycamore.

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