Powers Mentioned In Lapeer Liber 116-202 (Wills)

Lapeer County, Michigan

116-202

R: 18 Nov 1910

Will of Ruth Adams, dec'd

Ruth A. Adams of Lapeer, Last Will and Testament

Son: Perry E. Powers

Charles A. Powers, grandson

Mentions Spencer Adams of Lawton

Mentions Fred Niles

Perry Powers' daughter Minnie

Ruth Powers

(Ruth's) sisters: Eliza Decker, Harriet Casler, Mary E. Parent, Miranda Hulbert, Sophrona Chase and my brother, Perry J. Chase...

Nieces Nora M. Cate, Ruth Zoe Labadie and Ruth Carter and nephew Charles Sprague

Note: Not My Powers Family

Search In Stark County

Search site of the Stark County, Ohio, Recorder (log-in required).

Property search in Stark County, Ohio.

Wayne County, Michigan, Deed Index Online

Search Wayne County, Michigan, Grantor/Grantee Index online here.

Permanent Index
From January 1, 1986 To August 11, 2016
Images From January 1, 1960

Explaining Deed Indexes....

...starting specifically with Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (which includes Pittsburgh).

The indexes are in separate books and usually are absolutely complete, containing the name of every person mentioned in every deed from the time the county was founded down to date. There are four sets of indexes to be examined grantors, grantees, mortgagors, and mortgagees.

Source

An earlier post, Which Index Is Which?:

An alpha index using the first letter of one's surname may seem obvious; however, other indexing systems include the Paul Company, Burr Record, Campbell, Cott and the Russell Index. ...I've used the Russell Index while researching in Pittsburgh (Allegheny Co, Pennsylvania). FamilySearch has an explanation of Index Systems.

A case for consulting deeds first was made... at the GenealogyBlog, Quit Claim Deeds and Deed Releases.  My favorite quote: "... I now do deed research first, not last."

Youngs In Rensselaer County

A portion of the New York, Land Records, Rensselaer Grantee index, 1791-1895 U-Z ... [Image 309] Youngs, et al, below:

Based on the 1855 NY Census, William Young and his brother, Daniel, were born in Rensselaer County, New York, ca 1790 + -.  My grandkids descend from William Young.

Image 309

Rufus Rowe At The Rancho de las Pulgas

Posted in the Daily Alta California:

Isaac Briceland vs. Rufus Rowe, et al

5 March 1855

Rancho de las Pulgas

...on the county road leading from the city of San Francisco to the San Francisquito Creek, which point is opposite land of Osborne, and is the point of the county road, where the line of division commences between Rufus Rowe and Hackett and Judah, as designated on the map or survey of Humphrey, County Surveyor, filed at...the county Recorder's Office in San Francisco, June 25, 1853...numbered 1516 1/2....290 45/100 acres....

A search of Rancho de las Pulgas revealed the name of the surveyor general of California, John C. Hays (former Texas Ranger and cohort of Kit Acklin who is in my extended family tree):

 "Yet the surveyor general of California, John C. Hays, on the 19th day of December 1856 returned to the General Land Office his report of a pretended survey of Las Pulgas rancho including some 35,240 acres of land whereas in the Pulgas rancho with its west boundary but one league from the bay...".

Edward S. Rowe mentioned in this newspaper notice about Rancho de las Pulgas.

From Historic Spots In California [Ravenswood]:
The John Beal Steinberger property at this point was purchased in 1853 by Rufus Rowe, D. H. Haskell, John K. Hackett, and C. [Charles] D. Judah*...   *Charles D. Judah makes a cameo appearance in the biography of his brother, Theodore.

A map in the Stanford University Library:

Shows coastal outline, hills, roads, vegetation, and settlement locations of Jones, Steinberger, and Carr in the vicinity of Palo Alto. Includes a profile of the base line (length 6.53 miles) and a sketch showing the location of the base line in relation to the southern half of San Francisco Bay.
Note:  Related materials: Pulgas survey made by Trolkylovski C.E. for Rufus Rowe, D.H. Haskell, ... & C.D. Judah. San Francisco, 1853. Manuscript map in map collection, "Cities & Towns, S.F. #4222."

William R. & Mary Jane Johnston To Mrs. Hart Of Cleveland, Ohio

Roscommon Co., MI, Deed

Date?

13-31

William R. Johnston and Mary Jane, his wife, of Roscommon Village

TO

Mrs. Maria (or Mira) Hart of Cleveland, Ohio

Checked the Cleveland Necrology file online; there were a few hits, but nothing definitive in my estimation.  

Wish I would have recorded the date of the deed -- would have helped narrow the time frame when searching census records at FamilySearch.  Other deeds I've extracted in Roscommon County place the date, based on Liber "13," in the second half of 1894 (ish).  

This family tree has a Maria Hart and also mentions Roscommon, Michigan.  [As a side note, the tree also includes Jane Hudson whose widower married a person in my (very) extended family tree]  My extended family tree also includes William  and Mary Jane Johnston (the Grantors); my great-grandmother, Anna Cameron Johnston Cameron, would have been their sister-in-law.

Using the other deeds I've extracted from the county records did help narrow down the search, but there are still too many Mira/Mary/Marie Harts listed for me to identify the Mrs. Hart who was the Grantee.  Roscommon County may not have been the primary residence of Mrs. Hart after she purchased the property.  

Carrie A. Owen And Mary Rawlings' Property

Roscommon Co., MI

8-101

Recorded: 15 September 1885

Carrie A. Owen of Denton Twp., Roscommon Co., Michigan

Quit Claim To

Mary W. Rawlings of Bay City, Bay Co., Michigan

W 1/2 o Section 29 in Twp 22 North of Range 3 West

Roscommon Co., MI

8-102

16 September 1885

Mary Rawlings

To (QC?)

Carrie Owens

Same property as 8-101?

Mary (Merrill) Rawlings died in Bay County, Michigan, on October 14, 1907.

1894 Bay, Bay City 1494

Sheldon, Warren | Male | Husband | 40 | 7

Sheldon, Nellie | Female | Wife | 36 | 8

Sheldon, Mary | Female | Daughter | 4 | 9

Rawlings, Mary | Female | Mother | 65 | 10

Casper, Francis | Female | Daughter | 20 | 11

1884 Bay, Bay City 3665

Merrill, Harry P | Male | Husband | 44 | 11

Merrill, Laura C | Female | Wife | 43 | 12

Merrill, Frank C | Male | Son | 12 | 13

Merrill, Maud | Female | Daughter | 7 | 14

Rawlings, Henry W | Male | Brother-in-law | 46 | 15

Rawlings, Mary W | Female | Sister-in-law | 16 | 16

Groy, Charthy B | Female | Mother-in-law | 65 | 17

Uhl, Lizzie | Female | Servant | 17 | 18

United States Census, 1880

Waterford, Oakland, Michigan, United States

  Household Gender Age Birthplace

Self Henry Rawlings M 50 New York, United States

Wife Mary Rawlings F 45 Michigan, United States

Step Daughter Nettie Roe F 21 Michigan, United States

*Step Daughter Lena Roe F 16 Michigan, United States

Son Harry Rawlings M 7 Michigan, United States

Other Charles Stanley M 22 Michigan, United States

The Harry and Mary Rawlings family was living in Oakland County, Michigan, in 1870.

*Mary's first husband was Harlan Page Rowe.

Clara To Addie In Lapeer

Addie and William Powers were my great-grandparents.

Lapeer County, Michigan

Mortgage

59-48

r 24 Aug 1889

m 17 May 1889

Clara Brooks, of Dryden, Lapeer

To

Addie Powers (wife of William S. Powers) same place

$100

Commencing 70’ E of NE corner of Lot 1, Block 6 in Village of Dryden....

Witness: Thomas Williams and William S. Powers

Signed: Clara Brooks

Clara Brooks and William S. Powers were siblings.

The Virtue Of Joint Deeds

An article about Old Land Deeds, from  The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 41:

Even when a will was left it may not have been recorded. Our ancestors before the civil war seem to have shunned the probate courts. Sometimes all the heirs consented to the terms of the will or reached a mutually satisfactory agreement. The court was then avoided by all signing a joint bill of sale for the personal property and a joint deed for the real estate. 

Joint deeds of this sort are invaluable to the genealogist and should always be looked for. They of necessity give the full name and exact relationship of every living heir and also of every husband or wife of an heir. The place of residence of each heir is usually stated or it can be inferred from the notary's certificate or witnesses to the signatures. All of this makes a family history about as complete as could be desired.

Even ordinary deeds are worth looking up, for real estate transactions between relatives were much more frequent then than they are now. The witnesses were often relatives too.  At any rate it always shows whether or not the grantor had a wife living at the time, for she would have to sign it too.

Washington Co., North Carolina

Some samples of transcribed deeds were found here along with the samples of deed indexes, as well as a surname index.  A comprehensive compilation of Washington Co., NC, Deed Books are available from the author of the website (Linda Haas Davenport) who also authored the following publications:

My Books: Taking the Mystery Out of Land Records is back in print. 

And

Washington County N.C.: Abstracts of Deed Books A-B-C (1799-1814)

The Washington Co., North Carolina, Register of Deeds site (with a search function) can be found here (see description below):

"All transactions in Washington County go back to 1799 when the county was formed from Tyrrell County. Various types of documents filed in the office are old land grants, deeds, deeds of trust, maps, leases, agreements and powers of attorney."

Deeds Better Than Wills For Genealogists?

The case that it is preferable to mine real estate records is made in The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography:

OLD LAND DEEDS

Genealogists seem to neglect the real estate records that are so carefully preserved in the court house of every county throughout the country and should be reminded of the large amount of family history they contain.

It has been the writer's experience that these records give much better genealogical data than do wills for the tracing of ancestors and relatives.  Wills when found do not always give good results. Present day wills devise at least a small amount to every heir, but the old ones did not do so and frequently one or more of the heirs were not even mentioned in the will.  The relationship between the legatees and the devisor was seldom stated clearly. As a consequence brothers and nephews may be mistaken for sons, sisters-in-law and daughters-in-law may be mistaken for unmarried daughters, married daughters may be unidentifiable, and mere friends or servants may be mistaken for married daughters or sons-in-law.

Look Beyond The Obvious In Indexes

From my blog post here:

...a reminder to look in the deed indexes for items other than the obvious. ..."Surrogate Court" in the "S" index. Other possibilities..."H" for Heirs; "U" for United States; "A" for Administrator; "S" for Sheriff.

Lawrence Co., OH, Deeds

The Lawrence County, Ohio, Register, has a volunteer who indexed deeds and put the index online.  There's also a link to the Deed Recorder's site where deed images are online.

For example, Baccus, Ezra was found in the index for book 9, Page 381.  Here's a portion of Deed 9-381:

Burlington County, NJ

At the Burlington County, New Jersey, library website, there is a Deeds and Land Transactions category.  An example from the "Deeds" index below:

A Search In Chester County, PA

Chester County, Pennsylvania, has a recorder of deed records search here.

This is what is said on the site:

The information available via our online Eagle Web Records Search includes our verified document data from 1960 to the present, as well as associated document images from January 1994 to the present (see the current proof date at bottom left). Earlier index data is not verified nor complete. Subdivision plans are available from 1905 to the present.

 Hat tip from a NEHGS newsletter.

A Deed For James B. McCrea

Roscommon County, Michigan's Register of Deeds is online. Below is an abstract of a deed obtained during a visit to the Register of Deeds office. 

8-493

Recorded: 19 June 1891

C.E. Dowling of Detroit

Paid by J. H. Sly of Roscommon, Mich

for J. B. McCrea

Blackhawk County, Iowa

The Blackhawk Co., Iowa website can be searched for deeds.

The Palms of North Palm Beach

Jim's parents, Richard S. & Margaret D. Palm, purchased their house at 521 Ebbtide Drive, North Palm Beach, Florida, on January 18, 1978, from their son William.  Or, as Jim says, that's when his parents ran away from home.  They left Detroit for a short vacation and moved to Florida when Bill offered them a deal they couldn't refuse.  Bill wanted to live on a houseboat (financing agreement found here).  This is the second mortgage that Richard & Margaret knew nothing of at the time of purchase because they didn't have a title search done! 


This document mentioned the date of death of Jim's mother, Margaret D. Palm.

Search for Palm Beach County, Florida, deeds here. 

Lots of Trump deeds can be found!

Cumberland Co., North Carolina, Deeds

This tip was borrowed from the Free Genealogy Resources blog:

Cumberland County, North Carolina, Register of Deeds has some of their deeds online, from 1754 to present day.