How a Deed Can Build Your Family Tree

If you’re tracing your ancestors or the history of a home In Pennsylvania, particularly in the 18th century, you’ll want to search the deed books at the Recorder of Deeds.

If you’re tracing your ancestors or the history of a home In Pennsylvania, particularly in the 18th century, you’ll want to search the deed books at the Recorder of Deeds. These records generally go back to the county formation date, as early as 1681, and have changed little in 300 years.

Information Found in Deeds

The deed recorded in the office contains the following information:

Date the property was bought and/or sold
Parties involved: buyer (grantee), seller (grantor), spouses, witnesses, and possibly lawyers, court-appointed guardians, and powers-of-attorney.
The occupation and current residence of the buyer and seller.
Location of the property
Price the property sold for
Date the deed was recorded, which could be days to decades after it transferred owners.

The witnesses who signed the recorded deed in front of the Recorder of Deeds at the courthouse were typically family members of the buyer (grant This information can help build out or verify family trees.

Transcribe the Deed Completely

The majority of recorded deeds genealogists use are handwritten and written in cursive. To ensure all the information is extracted from the document, a transcription should be made.

To transcribe the document, read it from top to bottom and type each word into Word, Google Docs, or something similar. The goal is to type each word exactly as it is written.

In the process of transcribing, most people discover not only names and dates, but additional information. Here’s an example of a deed that builds a family tree:

"This Indenture made [empty space] day of [empty space] in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty two between Abraham Bloom soon of the Township of Pike in the County of Clearfield and State of Pennsylvania and Margaret his wife parties of teh first part and Nancy Bloom his daughter now intermarried with Robinson Curry part of the second part...."

This deed was recorded on May 20, 1884 but it refers to a real estate transfer in 1862. Abraham and Margaret Bloom gave the piece of land described in the deed to their daughter Nancy Bloom in 1862. The exact month and day is left blank unfortunately. It is also mentioned that Nancy Bloom is now married to Robinson Curry. From these few lines of text, a family tree emerges.

This land appears to only have been in Nancy's name. Robinson did not own enough property himself to cause the probate of an estate after his death in 1881. No other proof of this couple's marriage has been found, except in this deed.

Deeds can been time-consuming to read and transcribe, but their information is valuable to reconstruct family trees of Pennsylvania's earliest citizens.

To find deeds on your ancestors, here's The Easy Way to Find Deeds in PA.