Find Ancestry Information: County Recorder

Your county recorder's office is where all transfer documents get recorded. Military discharge papers are suppose to be send to the recorder's office for filing. All original documents are returned to the owners of these documents. As we know these documents sometimes get lost and when you need a copy of a deed you must get a copy from the recorder's office.

Usually just a copy is sufficient, when it isn't then you ask for a certified copy, which states this is a true and accurate copy of the original. For ancestor searching a copy will do. Should you be researching to join a society such as the "Sons of the American Revolution" or the "Daughters of the American Revolution", then you must ask for a certified copy. A certified copy usually costs between $5-$10.00.

As I mentioned in the page for the county auditor's office, deeds give much ancestor search information. A deed will give the name(s) of the seller and the name of the purchaser(s),legal description, parcel number of the property,names of witnesses if needed. The date the document was created, transfer date, date of recording. If this should be a deed out of an estate, it will show the name of the deceased, the court case number. The deed out of the estate will be from an administrator or an executor of the estate, this person could be surviving wife, an adult child or other appointed relative.

A deed given thru a partition suit, gives the names of all heirs and their spouses and this is very helpful, when you have same first and last names. Sarah Rector, single and you have Sarah Rector married to John Rector. This tells you the first Sarah was born into the Rector family and the second Sarah was married into the family and it shows that you definitely have to different people. Husband and wife signatures are found adjacent to each other.

Affidavits that are filed are generally given due to the death of one of the owners. The affiant could be the surviving spouse. Death and place of death are shown on this document as well as the legal description, parcel number. The person(s) who is being given the property which can be a list of heirs.

Your ancestor may have mortgaged the property. Sometimes parents will mortgage to a child, this is more common today for tax exemption purposes. It is interesting to see how much money it cost to purchase property. Also interesting to see how much money your ancestor borrowed from the bank back in the 1800s'.

If you are interested in seeing where your ancestor lived, the recorder's office has the recorded plats of subdivisions.

To find ancestry information look to military discharge papers that have been recorded at your county recorder's office.

When a person is discharged from the armed forces, they are suppose to have their discharge papers filed at the county recorder's office. I have not seen many of these papers, but it will have the name of your ancestor, date of discharge, the branch of service, possibly rank or type of work while in service, and the date the papers were filed in the recorder's office.

NOTE

I attended a meeting of our local genealogy society recently. The speaker was our County Recorder. She knew her business and she wanted feed back from us. They are digiizing the records and preserving them in several different medias.

Also I had been told that the State of Indiana passed a law that prohibited the County Recorder from allowing any one to see the discharge papers because of the identity information. The local genealogy and historical societies are trying to get the state to open up the papers from World War I service. The social security number that appears on WWII papers is not on WWI papers.Will let you know what happens. Please check your county recorder's office for any changes in the laws.

Keep researching and you will find ancestry information beyond your dreams.

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