I found my very elusive ancestors through Oneida County Land Records, even learned that my GGG-grandfather, listed as "yeoman" about 1810, was listed as a "lunatic" in land records in 1845. Here's how I did it: I went to the LDS Family History Library site online _www.familysearch.org_ (http://www.familysearch.org) , then clicked on Library, Catalog, places, Oneida, NY, deeds, grantor index and grantee index for my surname. Then I went to my local Family History Library, ordered the deed indexes on microfilm. In about 3 weeks they arrived, I checked the indexes, found my suspected ancestors and ordered microfilms of the actual deeds. Some of the things you can learn are: name of spouse, names of children, siblings, name of parents, neighbors, where they came from, where they went, etc. Often a deed which transfers upon death is the only record of death if the ancestor did not leave a will; death certificates were not issued that early. There is a small rental charge for the microfilms, I ended up paying more so that the films could stay at my local center for all to use. The people at the Family History Center were welcoming, helpful, and cheered with me when I found out that my GGG-Gramps was really named "Thomas", not "Samuel" as our handed-down family records indicated. Good luck to you! ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com

That's a great idea. I had sent for the probate index and nobody in that, but was confused with all the land records. Just the index would be helpful. I'll look into it. Thank you. On 9/23/07, Ervabar@aol.com <Ervabar@aol.com> wrote: > I found my very elusive ancestors through Oneida County Land Records, even > learned that my GGG-grandfather, listed as "yeoman" about 1810, was listed as a > "lunatic" in land records in 1845. Here's how I did it: > > I went to the LDS Family History Library site online _www.familysearch.org_ > (http://www.familysearch.org) , then clicked on Library, Catalog, places, > Oneida, NY, deeds, grantor index and grantee index for my surname. Then I went > to my local Family History Library, ordered the deed indexes on microfilm. In > about 3 weeks they arrived, I checked the indexes, found my suspected > ancestors and ordered microfilms of the actual deeds. Some of the things you can > learn are: name of spouse, names of children, siblings, name of parents, > neighbors, where they came from, where they went, etc. Often a deed which > transfers upon death is the only record of death if the ancestor did not leave a > will; death certificates were not issued that early. > > There is a small rental charge for the microfilms, I ended up paying more so > that the films could stay at my local center for all to use. The people at > the Family History Center were welcoming, helpful, and cheered with me when I > found out that my GGG-Gramps was really named "Thomas", not "Samuel" as our > handed-down family records indicated. > > Good luck to you! > > > > > ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NYONEIDA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >