I have found a handful of old "courses, deeds, indenture" documents of land in the mid 1800's. These are old and hand-written. I would like to (a) find out exactly where the land is located, and, (b) identify previous and subsequent owners.

Where would official records of these documents be kept, as well as records of ownership that may precede or come after? Abstract offices? County court houses?

FYI, these documents are VERY old (1849, 1851, etc), and more fascinating to me, use physical landmarks that no longer exist to identify the land (e.g. "Starting at north branch of the Jackson river, where it splits off next to oak sapling, 35 N. 27 E. next to the White Oak tree, along the river until the dead log next to William Jones' new fence".)

What state are the records from? It sounds as though you have land records from a state land state.
Here's a link that discusses state land states and their land records.
http://www.lhaasdav.com/land/statelandstates.html

To figure out what you have, I would start by contacting someone from the county offices in the state and county where the land records are from. Tell them what you have and let them guide you to the proper department.

If you don't know much about land records, Google, "state land states" or "land record tutorial" and go from there. Land records are fun and sometimes very revealing. The metes and bounds description that you posted is not necessarily the easiest way to get started in land records, but hey, go for it!


Bob Gaudio