AmericaGen Study Group
Chapter 21 Homework
Marceline Beem
Reference: Greenwood, Val D. “Abstracting Probate and Land Records.” In The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, 4th ed., 520-546. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 2017.
I'm one of those who disagree with the author's take that
some records should be abstracted rather than transcribed. If at all possible,
I prefer to get a copy of the original record, transcribe it, and then abstract
it if needed. You never know when you might need that original copy, so I'd
rather have it then need to go back and find it months or years later.
One of my gigs is a professional transcriber of audio files.
The company I contract with uses proprietary software in the cloud for our
work. Typing in Word and then using copy/paste is not allowed because Word does
weird stuff behind the scenes when you use the paste function in the company
software. However, we are allowed to copy/paste from Notepad, and there have
been occasions where I've done this for specific projects, just to make life
easier.
I likewise get frustrated trying to transcribe old documents
in Word. While the auto-correct feature is great for most writing I do, it's not
so great when you are trying to preserve the spelling, punctuation, and grammar
of the original document. When I transcribed the deed I am sharing today, I
decided to try it in Notepad instead of Word. It was so easy! There were a few
times that the program auto-corrected a spelling error, but I was able to change
it back with just one try, rather than the several tries it takes with Word. There's probably a way to disable the
auto-correct feature in Notepad, but I haven't taken the time to customize it
yet.
In our last lesson, I shared a deed that I am currently
using in my research. I want to know what relationship, if any, exists between
Moses Smith who died in Marion County, South Carolina in 1848 and John Smith,
Senior who sold land to Richard Grantham in neighboring Bladen County in 1757.
(Moses Smith married Richard's daughter, Hannah). You can view the originaldocument if you'd like.
Transcript
Source: Bladen County, North Carolina Deed Book 23, page 488
No 378
John Smith Senr
To
Richard Grantham
This Indenture the 6th Day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand
Seven hundred & Steventy five between John Smith Senr of Bladen County &
Province of North Carolina Planter of the one part & Richard Grantham of
the same province & County aforesaid Planter of the other part witnesseth
that the aforesaid John Smith Senr for & in consideration of the sum
of Twelve pounds proclamation to him in hand paid by the aforesaid Richard
Grantham the receipt whereof the said John Smith doth hereby acknowledge
& thereof doth acquit release & forever discharge the said Richard Grantham
his heirs Exrs & admrs & every of them by these presents have granted Bargained
sold [atuned?] released & confirmed & by these presents do fully freely clearly &
absolutely grant Bargain Sell [alien?] release & confirm unto the said Richard
Grantham his heirs & assigns one tract of parcel of land lying & being in
the County & Province aforesaid in the Swamp between Drowning Creek
& Tadpole at a place called Turkey Island Begining at a chestnut white
Oak in the upper end of said Island & runing thence S 10 E 44 chains
& Seventy three links then S 80 W 44 chains & 73 links then N 10 W 44 chains
& 73 links then Direct to the Beginning courses containing Two hundred
acres of land it being a Tract of land granted to John Smith as appears
by the patent bearing Date in May one thousand Seven hundred and
Seventy two To have & to hold the said Two hundred acres of land here
determents & premises hereby granted or Mentioned to be granted with
their appurtenances & every part & parcel thereof unto the aforesaid
Richard Grantham his heirs & assigns & that free & clear from all
manner of incumbrances whatsoever the one half of all gold & Silver
Mines Together with the Quitrents already due & hereafter accruing on
the Bargained land only excepted & reserved to the use of his Magisty
& Successord forever & the aforesaid John Smith for himself his heirs &
extrs & admsrs doth covenant promise & grant to & with the said Richd
Grantham his heirs & assigns by these presents that he the afordsaid John
Smith & his heirs the hereby granted premises & every part & parcel
thereof with the appurtenance unto the aforesaid Richard Granth
am his heirs & assigns against him the said John Smith & his heirs
& against all & every person & persons whatsoever having or lawfully claim
ing or that shall or may at any time or times hereafter to have or
claim any Right Title Interest of in or to the said prebargained prem
ises or any part thereof by from or under him them or any of them up
on the reasonable request cost & charges in the law of him the aforesd
Richard Grantham his heirs or assigns shall & will Sign Seal & deliver
any such further & other Instrument or Instruments of writing what
soever for the further & better assurance & confirmation of the herby gran
ted premises with the appurtenances unto the aforesaid Richard Grantham
his heirs & assigns forever as by him or them or by his or their counsel
learned in the law shall or may be reasonably advised devised or
required In witness whereof the said John Smith hath hereunto set his hand
and Seal the Day & year above written
Signed Sealed & Delivered John Smith (seal)
Abstract
John Smith Senr of Bladen County, planter, to Richard
Grantham of same, planter, indenture 6th day of January 1775. For and in
consideration of 12 pounds proclamation, land in the swamp between Drowning
Creek and Tadpole at a place called Turkey Island. Beginning at a chestnut
white oak in the upper end of said island...200 acres of land granted to John
Smith by patent in May 1772.
I used DeedMapper to plat this deed:
 |
| Plat of land sold by John Smith Senior to Richard Grantham in 1775 |
My research on this deed is not complete until I locate the
original land patent from May 1772. Fortunately, these are online at Ancestry,
so I was able to locate the land patent. To do this, I used the card catalog to
locate and search the specific database for John Smith. This was much quicker
than doing a general search for John Smith and trying to look through all
record types for the specific land grant.
 |
| Search Results for John Smith in the North Carolina Land Grants database at Ancestry.com |
John Smith received two patents in
May 1772 in Bladen County, but the front jacket gives a brief description of
the location, making it easy to know which patent to look at.
Source: Ancestry.com > North Carolina, Land Grant Files,
1693-1960 > Images 538-539 of 1346, entry for John Smith dated 20 May 1772.
Accessed March 20, 2019.
Cover sheet:
Entry:
I still need to transcribe the grant for my notes, but the description on the cover page helps me know I've located the correct grant. Since this document is so short, I probably will not create an abstract of it.
