Janece, for Carter deeds in Killingworth (now Clinton)try Clinton Historical Society for help, c/o The Red Brick, E Main St. Clinton CT 06413. Although some documents will be in the Town Hall, Clinton. Also check w/our cousin, LeRoy Carter by snail mail or phone. He may have some copies of early documents. Martha Byrnes [best email is now homebyrnes@gmail.com] >From: CTMIDDLE-D-request@rootsweb.com >Date: Fri Jun 24 03:00:06 CDT 2005 >To: CTMIDDLE-D@rootsweb.com >Subject: CTMIDDLE-D Digest V05 #65 >CTMIDDLE-D Digest Volume 05 : Issue 65 > >Today's Topics: > #1 Re: Plotting out deeds [Jimmerjam@aol.com] > #2 Re: Plotting out deeds [Streig3@aol.com] > >Administrivia: >To unsubscribe from CTMIDDLE-D, send a message to > > CTMIDDLE-D-request@rootsweb.com > >that contains in the body of the message the command > > unsubscribe > >and no other text. No subject line is necessary, but if your software >requires one, just use unsubscribe in the subject, too. > >______________________________ > >Regarding the plotting out of family deeds, be ready for some real work. >This is not meant to discourage anyone by any means, but if you have not plotted >out early deeds in Connecticut before, it will be frustrating at times and >require much more time and head scratching than you may expect. I have done >this with my Rogers families in East Haddam (for the period ca 1740-1835), and >it cracked a major brick wall. However, I either sketched or plotted out >about 200 deeds to get the 12-15 owned by my family members. > >Why so many? Not only were many deeds very vague in their metes and bounds >property descriptions, a significant number described the subject property by >only naming the neighbors on each side. That means you will be needing to plot >out the properties of the neighbors as well. To do this you will be >following the "chains of title" for their property histories through the deed indexes >too. > >As for plat maps, East Haddam is still rural, so "today's" assessor's plats >formed the framework on which which my parcels were located. (I had to cut >and paste various assessor plats to get what I needed.) Try to maintain the same >scale as you work. Some property lines changed of course, but the basic >patterns were there. Look for distinct land marks that locate ANY property, and >start your jig-saw puzzle from there. Best of luck, and don't give up! > >______________________________ > >Thank you for your explanation on plotting these deeds. For me, the reminder >in your comments was that I needed to start with "todays" assessor plat >maps. Can you tell me where these maps can be located in CT? > >I have done this before, in California. My husband & I had the maps and the >property description and actually went to the sites. We were rewarded in one >case by finding the actual house his grandfather built--it had been moved to a > different location on the property. However, tracing back 100 years in CA is >a lot easier than 300 years in CT. > >Again, thank you. It is a project that can be rewarding. > >Janece Carter Streig >streig3@aol.com >_http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jcstreig/_ >(http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jcstreig/) > >"Genealogy is life in the past lane."