This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: bjburdan Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.pennsylvania.counties.berks/10242.1.1.2.1.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: The Berks County Register of Deeds site is a very valuable source of information. The deeds are full of information like that. They didn't leave anything to chance and explained it all. It's not the easiest site to work with but it sure is worth it. http://www.co.berks.pa.us/recorder/site/default.asp Betty Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.

Those deeds are a very good source of information not only for facts but in some cases emotions. I found a "deed" that was a release for as she states the responsibility for "his bastard son". From her hand writing you can see that when she started writing it, she was very confident in what she wanted to do. But as she got to the point of putting on paper that he was not responsible, her handwriting becomes very small and tight. You can almost see the tears on the page. On 12/27/2010 12:09 AM, [email protected] wrote: > This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. > > Author: bjburdan > Surnames: > Classification: queries > > Message Board URL: > > http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.pennsylvania.counties.berks/10242.1.1.2.1.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.1/mb.ashx > > Message Board Post: > > The Berks County Register of Deeds site is a very valuable source of information. The deeds are full of information like that. They didn't leave anything to chance and explained it all. It's not the easiest site to work with but it sure is worth it. > > http://www.co.berks.pa.us/recorder/site/default.asp > > Betty > > Important Note: > The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board. > > > > ==== PABERKS Mailing List ==== > [email protected] > > To contact the List Administrator: > Rick Berkheiser, [email protected] > > To visit the Berks Message Board: > http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=localities.northam.usa.states.pennsylvania.counties.berks > > To visit the Berks County, PA website: > http://www.pa-roots.com/~berks/ > Hosted by Nancy Freehafer > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Keith, You were fortunate to find a deed actually written by the seller, most of them were written by scribes hired for the task. The ones at the courthouse were probably copies, handwritten by some clerk in the registers office, who did nothing but copy deeds all day. I have found deeds for tracts of land handed down through the family where it identifies the children of the original landowner, their children and in some cases their children. Some deeds include the death date of each family member who had passed away and the location of their will. They also identify family members who have moved out of state or to a different county in PA. They are a treasure trove of genealogical data. For those ancestors whom we have never found in a local cemetery or churchyard, the deeds might contain a mention of a burial ground on the family farm or "plantation." Giving us the clue that the missing ancestors were buried on the farm, in many cases without a professional carved headstone. Berks County should be commended for putting the deed images on line, as well as their estate file index and their death and marriage indexes, along with the appearance docket indexes. We, who have ancestors in Berks, are very lucky. Betty

Betty: I figured that while the information in the deed was somewhat non standard, the young lady came flying into the clerks office full of emotion. The clerk, rather than argue with her, decided the deed of release would work in the situation. So he gave her the book and said here, write what you want to say. He was able to get her out of his office with minimum problems, and we are left with a very interesting document. She was in a very socially unacceptable condition for the time, and would have suffered from the social stigma for life. The good news is they were married and baptized the baby a couple of months later. Keith On 12/27/2010 10:09 AM, Betty Burdan wrote: > Keith, > > You were fortunate to find a deed actually written by the seller, > most of them were written by scribes hired for the task. The ones at > the courthouse were probably copies, handwritten by some clerk in the > registers office, who did nothing but copy deeds all day. > > I have found deeds for tracts of land handed down through the family > where it identifies the children of the original landowner, their > children and in some cases their children. Some deeds include the > death date of each family member who had passed away and the location > of their will. They also identify family members who have moved out > of state or to a different county in PA. They are a treasure trove > of genealogical data. > > For those ancestors whom we have never found in a local cemetery or > churchyard, the deeds might contain a mention of a burial ground on > the family farm or "plantation." Giving us the clue that the missing > ancestors were buried on the farm, in many cases without a > professional carved headstone. > > Berks County should be commended for putting the deed images on line, > as well as their estate file index and their death and marriage > indexes, along with the appearance docket indexes. We, who have > ancestors in Berks, are very lucky. > > Betty > > > ==== PABERKS Mailing List ==== > [email protected] > > To contact the List Administrator: > Rick Berkheiser, [email protected] > > To visit the Berks Message Board: > http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=localities.northam.usa.states.pennsylvania.counties.berks > > To visit the Berks County, PA website: > http://www.pa-roots.com/~berks/ > Hosted by Nancy Freehafer > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >