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Land and property records can place an ancestor in a particular location, give important economic information and sometimes even reveal family relationships. Land records may include deeds, mortgages, leases, grants and patents. For a brief general history of land and property, and guide to finding various New York land records seeNew York Land and Property wiki pages.

Deeds may be found in the county courthouse beginning as early as 1683 (or the inception date of new counties), but registration of deeds was not required until 1810. When a new county was formed, deeds and other land records were copied and sent to the newly-made county. Some early records may be found in towns, but typically only in Long Island towns.

Groups of large land purchasers were speculators who sold to private individuals. Sometimes these records are found in county records, but they may be incomplete. The records generated by the land companies often included deeds, leases and mortgages for tenants who bought land on time. Often deeds were not issued until full payment for the land was received.

Original deeds in county began in [dates]. These records are housed at [place].

Copies, abstracts and indexes to deeds may be found in WorldCat and the FHLC as well as other Internet sites.