Land Records Research Value Pack

Learn how to unearth your family history in land records! The resources in this value pack will teach you:

• what types of records to look for and where to find them
• how to master land-records terminology and decipher land descriptions
• how to plot your ancestors' property
• how to use land records in your genealogy research to track families and link generations

Here's how to hone your land records research skills in 4 steps using the Land Records Research Value Pack:

1. Read our beginner's guide to patents, deeds and other key land records.

The six-page Research Strategies: Using Land Records (Download) provides an introduction to land records research—it's a helpful starting point for beginners or refresher for more experienced researchers.

2. Learn land records lingo.

Next you'll move on to the downloadable independent study course Land Records 101. In the first lesson, we'll demystify the confusing language of land records, preparing you to understand what you find in the records you'll uncover.

3. Explore land records in depth.

Lessons 2-5 of Land Records 101 will give you detailed guidance and hands-on practice using deeds, federal land patents—including records from the 1862 Homestead Act—and military bounty land warrants.

4. Plot your ancestors' property for additional clues.

"Platting" your family's tract of land is valuable not only for envisioning the property—seeing their parcel in context can provide clues and theories for further research that you might otherwise overlook. Two on-demand video classes, Platting Rectangular Survey System Properties and Platting Metes and Bounds Properties, walk you step by step through the process.