Iowa, Poweshiek County Land Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Iowa Poweshiek County

What is in the Collection?
These records include digital images of land records including commercial incorporations, deeds, town lot records and marriages from the county recorder of deeds and the county auditor. The collection covers the years 1855 to 1934.

What Can these Records Tell Me?
The content of the records varies with each type of record. You may find any of the following:


 * Names of interested parties
 * Date of the event or transaction
 * Legal description of the property
 * Monies exchanged
 * Details of the transaction
 * Names of other family members or witnesses
 * Age
 * Birthplace
 * Residence
 * Color
 * Nationality
 * Number of marriage
 * Occupation

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor.
 * The approximate date or location of the land transaction.

View the Images
View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page.
 * 1) Select Record Type, Volume, and Year Range

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.

For more tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use the residence and names of the parents 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 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 Who I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * Try viewing the original record. Indexes and transcriptions may not include all the data found in the original records. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * If your ancestor does not have a common name, collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relatives that can be verified by records.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality in an area search.
 * Try variant spellings of your ancestor’s name.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Search the indexes and records of Iowa, United States Genealogy.
 * Search in the FamilySearch Library Catalog

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation:

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