I am in need of some advice. I am trying to find out when a piece of property was sold in Polk County and I'm not sure how to go about it. When I went to the Polk County Courthouse two summers ago, I had one day to spend there. I copied William Newton Bronaugh's entire probate file (he was my great-great-great-grandfather) and did lots of other research, but ran out of time before I had a chance to do much searching to determine when this land was sold. William died 13 Sept 1883 and is buried in the Barren Creek Cemetery. In the probate record, the land description is (as near as I can tell from the handwriting): E1/2 SW1/4 and SW1/4 of NW1/4 section thirty (30) township thirty three (33) range twenty three (23), Polk County, Missouri, Warranty Deed. I don't find anything in the probate record stating when the land was sold. I do recall quickly searching the grantor/grantee index at the courthouse for about 10 years after William's death and not finding anything. Below I have pasted the information I found on the BLM Web site for a land patent for the same person. Some of the land description (but not all of it) matches the description in the probate record. Maybe he sold off some of it? Is there a way to look up the sale of land by the legal description? Any suggestions on how I can tell when this land was sold and to whom would be most appreciated. Thanks, Cindy Kennedy From the BLM Web site: Names Patentee: WILLIAM N BRONAUGH Survey State: MISSOURI Acres: 40 Metes/Bounds: No Title Transfer Issue Date: 9/15/1854 Land Office: Springfield Cancelled: No Mineral Reservations: No Authority: April 24, 1820: Sale-Cash Entry (3 Stat. 566) Aliquot Parts SWNE Sec./Block 8/ Township 33-N Range 23-W Fract. Section No Meridian 5th PM State MO Counties Polk Survey Nr. Shebbear: A village in Devon, England. From the Old English, "sceaftbearu" --the grove where poles were cut.

Cindy, I don't have any specific helpful advice for this specific case, but... If the property went to a family member, the transfer may not have been recorded till it was sold to a non-family member. And even then, that purchase may not have been recorded till *that* person wanted to sell it some time later. The folks of the day didn't have the same notions about recording these things with the county the way we do now. You may have to go 20 or more years after his death. Something else to note, if the property was seized and sold for taxes, you'd find it in the grantor/grantee index as a sale by the Sheriff. (I ran into a lot of that when I was searching for my kin in Cedar County.) Again, nothing specific, but almost certainly a local title company could do a title search based on the legal description of the property. That would get you the entire history of the property. > I am in need of some advice. I am trying to find out when a piece of >property was sold in Polk County and I'm not sure how to go about it. >When I went to the Polk County Courthouse two summers ago, I had one day >to spend there. I copied William Newton Bronaugh's entire probate file >(he was my great-great-great-grandfather) and did lots of other >research, but ran out of time before I had a chance to do much searching >to determine when this land was sold. William died 13 Sept 1883 and is >buried in the Barren Creek Cemetery. > >In the probate record, the land description is (as near as I can tell >from the handwriting): > >E1/2 SW1/4 and SW1/4 of NW1/4 section thirty (30) township thirty three >(33) range twenty three (23), Polk County, Missouri, Warranty Deed. > >I don't find anything in the probate record stating when the land was >sold. I do recall quickly searching the grantor/grantee index at the >courthouse for about 10 years after William's death and not finding >anything. > > >Below I have pasted the information I found on the BLM Web site for a >land patent for the same person. >Some of the land description (but not all of it) matches the description >in the probate record. Maybe he sold off some of it? > >Is there a way to look up the sale of land by the legal description? > >Any suggestions on how I can tell when this land was sold and to whom >would be most appreciated. > >Thanks, > >Cindy Kennedy > >>From the BLM Web site: > >Names > >Patentee: > >WILLIAM N BRONAUGH > >Survey > >State: > >MISSOURI > >Acres: 40 > >Metes/Bounds: No > >Title Transfer Issue Date: 9/15/1854 > >Land Office: Springfield > >Cancelled: No > >Mineral Reservations: No > >Authority: April 24, 1820: Sale-Cash Entry (3 Stat. 566) > >Aliquot Parts SWNE > >Sec./Block 8/ > >Township 33-N > >Range 23-W > >Fract. Section No > >Meridian 5th PM > >State MO > >Counties Polk > >Survey Nr. > > > > > > > > >Shebbear: A village in Devon, England. From the Old English, >"sceaftbearu" --the grove where poles were cut. > > > >==== MOPOLK Mailing List ==== >NO offensive language-NO flames-NO advertising will be permitted on >this mail list.

Hi Cynthia, The only way I know you can find that info is to go thru the land records, which is the grantee, grantor records. It takes quite awhile to do this. But that is about the only way I know. Marie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cynthia Kennedy" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2004 9:05 PM Subject: [MOPOLK] Polk County Land Records Advice Needed > > I am in need of some advice. I am trying to find out when a piece of > property was sold in Polk County and I'm not sure how to go about it. > When I went to the Polk County Courthouse two summers ago, I had one day > to spend there. I copied William Newton Bronaugh's entire probate file > (he was my great-great-great-grandfather) and did lots of other > research, but ran out of time before I had a chance to do much searching > to determine when this land was sold. William died 13 Sept 1883 and is > buried in the Barren Creek Cemetery. > > In the probate record, the land description is (as near as I can tell > from the handwriting): > > E1/2 SW1/4 and SW1/4 of NW1/4 section thirty (30) township thirty three > (33) range twenty three (23), Polk County, Missouri, Warranty Deed. > > I don't find anything in the probate record stating when the land was > sold. I do recall quickly searching the grantor/grantee index at the > courthouse for about 10 years after William's death and not finding > anything. > > > Below I have pasted the information I found on the BLM Web site for a > land patent for the same person. > Some of the land description (but not all of it) matches the description > in the probate record. Maybe he sold off some of it? > > Is there a way to look up the sale of land by the legal description? > > Any suggestions on how I can tell when this land was sold and to whom > would be most appreciated. > > Thanks, > > Cindy Kennedy > > >From the BLM Web site: > > Names > > Patentee: > > WILLIAM N BRONAUGH > > Survey > > State: > > MISSOURI > > Acres: 40 > > Metes/Bounds: No > > Title Transfer Issue Date: 9/15/1854 > > Land Office: Springfield > > Cancelled: No > > Mineral Reservations: No > > Authority: April 24, 1820: Sale-Cash Entry (3 Stat. 566) > > Aliquot Parts SWNE > > Sec./Block 8/ > > Township 33-N > > Range 23-W > > Fract. Section No > > Meridian 5th PM > > State MO > > Counties Polk > > Survey Nr. > > > > > > > > > Shebbear: A village in Devon, England. From the Old English, > "sceaftbearu" --the grove where poles were cut. > > > > ==== MOPOLK Mailing List ==== > NO offensive language-NO flames-NO advertising will be permitted on this mail list. > >

I may be off base with this suggestion, but since you have the land description, I would start with that and work backwards. The Recorder of Deeds office should be able to quickly give you the name/s of the current owner/s. With the name of the current owner/s, go to the deed books to look for that name/when the property changed hands and work your way back to your ancestors. I am guessing that would be the quickest method other than paying a title company to do a search. Hope this helps. There is much information to be gleaned from deeds. I recently was able to 'prove' to my satisfaction the name of my ggg grandfather, Thomas Sproul, and the names of four of his children (including my gg grandmother Margaret Sproul Armstrong) from Hawkins Co, TN deeds. Best wishes, Alice Kinslow Kugler

Alice is right, but the recorder doesn't have time to do this. Marie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alice Kugler" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, April 30, 2004 8:49 AM Subject: Re: [MOPOLK] Polk County Land Records Advice Needed > I may be off base with this suggestion, but since you have the land > description, I would start with that and work backwards. The Recorder of > Deeds office should be able to quickly give you the name/s of the current > owner/s. With the name of the current owner/s, go to the deed books to look > for that name/when the property changed hands and work your way back to your > ancestors. I am guessing that would be the quickest method other than > paying a title company to do a search. Hope this helps. There is much > information to be gleaned from deeds. I recently was able to 'prove' to my > satisfaction the name of my ggg grandfather, Thomas Sproul, and the names of > four of his children (including my gg grandmother Margaret Sproul Armstrong) > from Hawkins Co, TN deeds. > Best wishes, Alice Kinslow Kugler > > > > ==== MOPOLK Mailing List ==== > Contact listowner: [email protected] > >