Mississippi, Tippah County Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

County History
Tippah County was founded in 1836 and named after Pontotoc, a Chickasaw Indian Chief. It once encompassed portions of Benton, Union, Alcorn, and Prentiss Counties. Ripley is the County Seat. See Tippah County, Mississippi History, Records, Facts, Genealogy and Ancestry and Tippah County, Mississippi at e-ReferenceDesk: Tippah County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

Court House: P.O. Box 99 County Courthouse Ripley, MS 38663-0099

Collection Time Period
These records cover the years 1836 to 1923.

Record Description
The collection Includes deeds, chattel deeds and probate case files. The records are usually handwritten or handwritten on preprinted pages.

Record Content
Genealogical facts in county land records are:


 * Dates when the transaction occurred, written up, and recorded in the county
 * Names of the grantors (sellers), the grantees (buyers), witnesses, and sometimes neighbors
 * Ages are seldom given, but a person might be mentioned as a minor
 * Exact relationships may be stated in deeds for property sold or given to heirs during a person’s lifetime
 * Usually the residences of the grantor(s) and grantee(s)
 * Usually the occupations of both the grantor(s) and grantee(s)
 * Signature or mark (usually an X) of the grantor(s)
 * Legal description of the parcel
 * Until the late 1800s, the amount of consideration

Probate records include petitions, inventories, accounts, decrees and other court documents. Genealogical facts generally found in entries are:


 * Name of testator or deceased
 * Names of heirs such as spouse, children, and other relatives or friends
 * Name of executor, administrator, or guardian
 * Names of witnesses
 * Residence of testator
 * Document and recording dates. (There are used to approximate event dates, i.e. a will was usually written near time of death.)

How to Use the Record
Begin your search by finding your ancestors in the index. Name indexes make it possible to access a specific record quickly. Remember that these indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned. In addition some entries in earlier years may have been missed

When searching the index for land records and deeds it is helpful to do the following:


 * Check the index for the family name (surname) and then the given name. Make a list of the volumes and page numbers for each deed you wish to check.
 * For each deed, search the noted volume and page number.

When searching the index for probate records you need to know the following:


 * The place of residence.
 * The approximate death or probate date.
 * The name of the deceased.

Use the locator information found in the index (such as page, entry, or certificate number) to locate your ancestors in the records. Some on-line indexes, such as indexes to FamilySearch Historical Records, will take you directly to an image. Compare the information in the record to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination.

When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. Make a copy of the record, or extract the genealogical information needed. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family. For example:


 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and census records.
 * Occupations listed can lead you to employment records or other types of records such as military records.
 * Use probate records to identify heirs and relatives or to learn about adoptions or guardianship of any minor children and dependents.
 * Use the document (such as the will) or the recording dates to approximate a death date.
 * Use the information in the probate record to substitute for civil birth and death records since the probates exist for an earlier time period.
 * You may be able to use the probate record to learn about land transactions.
 * 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.

Keep in mind:


 * 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.
 * Witnesses and neighbors, even those with a different surname, may have been relatives, in-laws, or even a widowed mother who has remarried. You may want to check the records of these witnesses and neighbors, especially if they are frequently found in your ancestor’s land records.
 * Earlier records may not contain as much information as the records created after 1900.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from one record to another record.

If you are unable to find the ancestors you are looking for, try the following:


 * Check for variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Check for a different index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume.
 * Search the indexes for the “parent” county to find the original purchase of a parcel of land. You may also need to search a neighboring county since that courthouse may have been more convenient for the person to record the deed.
 * Check the land records of the people mentioned in your ancestor’s deeds to see if a different residence was ever mentioned for them.
 * Make a list of all residences mentioned in the records within a year or two of when your ancestors came to the county—regardless of surname. Then search the records of places that seem likely or that occur frequently.
 * Create a database for other people with the same surname who lived in the county. Doing this may help you identify which individuals were related. If your ancestor’s records do not contain the information you need, a county database might give you a more complete picture.
 * Search other areas of the index. For example, if the land was sold for taxes, the entry may be in the grantor index under “S” for “sheriff,” under “T” for “tax collector” or “treasurer,” under the names of those officials, or even under the county name. County histories or other records may give the names of these county officials.

Record History
County officials, usually the county clerk, began keeping records from the time the county was formed.

Why this Record Was Created
Each type of record within the county was created for a different purpose.

Probate records were used to legally dispose of a person’s estate after his or her death. If the deceased had made a will, the probate process transferred the following from the deceased to an executor or executrix: the legal responsibility for payment of taxes, care and custody of dependent family members, liquidation of debts, and transfer of property title to heirs. If there was no will, the transfer went to an administrator or administratrix. A guardian or conservator was appointed if the deceased had heirs younger than 21 or if the heirs were incompetent due to disability or disease.

Land transactions were recorded to document the transfer of land ownership and establish legal rights to land, track responsibilities for tax revenues, and designate persons to serve in various functions of the county, such as maintaining public roads in the early times.

Record Reliability
The information given in county land records is quite reliable, although there may be errors made while transcribing the county’s copy from an original deed.

Information in the probate proceedings is also quite reliable, but realize that there is still a chance of misinformation. The records may omit the names of deceased family members or those who had previously received an inheritance. In some cases, the spouse mentioned in the will was not the parent of the children mentioned. Also, some wills do not name family members.

Related Websites
Tippah County, Mississippi Genealogy Facebook Page

MSGenWeb Tippah County Page

Related Wiki Articles
Mississippi Land and Property

Mississippi Probate Records

Sources of Information for This Collection
“Mississippi Tippah County Records, 1836-1923,” database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org/); from the Tippah County Clerk, Ripley. FHL digital images, Family History Library Salt Lake City, Utah.

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should also list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.

A suggested format for citing FamilySearch Historical Collections, including how to cite individual archives is found in the following link:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections

Examples of Source Citations for a Record in This Collection

 * United States. Bureau of the Census. 12th census, 1900, digital images, From FamilySearch Internet (www.familysearch.org: September 29, 2006), Arizona Territory, Maricopa, Township 1, East Gila, Salt River Base and Meridian; sheet 9B, line 71
 * Mexico, Distrito Federal, Catholic Church Records, 1886-1933, digital images, from FamilySearch Internet (www.familysearch.org: April 22, 2010), Baptism of Adolfo Fernandez Jimenez, 1 Feb. 1910, San Pedro Apóstol, Cuahimalpa, Distrito Federal, Mexico, film number 0227023