Chapter 21: Abstracting Probate and Land Records

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.