Jim, it is still not required to record a deed in PA. When we bought here in 1982 I did a title search and found one that wasn't recorded back in 1913. However, if the supposedly grandfather did have a deed did you check to see if it was on the same land? his deed description and the first one you found of your ancestor should jive. Or work through the tax records to see who paid taxes on the land after first owner died. Or if there were no wills for those first two you found, then go to orphans' court as there would have to have been an inventory, etc. and distribution if land was involved, whether or not actual orphans were involved. Did you also look for Letter of Administration? I assume you did that. Check orphans' court carefully because sometimes the accounts are in the name of the person acting as executor and not in children's names. Also I have a will mentioned in a will about 30 years after the ancestor died, but the will of first ancestor is lost. Also I had to write three times to Delaware Co courthouse to get a will which they told me two times wasn't there when I knew it was. Good luck. Happy New Year. Cathy ----- Original Message ----- From: James Freeman <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2002 4:21 PM Subject: [PDGO] Early Deed Transfers > In a nutshell, this is my problem: An ancestor of mine inherited land from his father abt 1774-5 and no deed transfer was filed in Berks County. After the son died in 1828, the Estate sold the property and a Deed transfer WAS filed which explained the earlier transfer from father to son according to the terms of the fathers Will. No record exists in Berks for where the father got the land. It was probably transfered BEFORE Berks County was formed in 1752. I checked with the Lancaster Co. Deeds Office & found no record there. The land would have been part of Lancaster before 1752. I checked at the State Archives to see if my ancestor received a Land Warrant from the state. No luck there for the earliest ancestor I have documented, but found two others with similar surnames who got land in "Tulpehocken" & "Heidelberg" as early as 1734. One of them has the same first name as the son of my earliest known ancestor. Could be the grandfather. > > I need to find some documentation of this early Deed transfer to hopefully make the family connection. I was told at the Lancaster Deed Office that it may not exist because it was not required to record it back then or it may have been recorded in Philadelphia. My question is where in Philadelphia would records of early deed transfers be found? > > Jim Freeman > > > ==== PADUTCHgenONLY Mailing List ==== > If you have questions about this list contact the admin at: > Joan Young, [email protected] or Don Hartman, [email protected] > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >

Cathy, You are familiar with the ancestors I am researching. The land in question belonged to Henrich Freyman, f/o Casper Freeman. The description of the property on the deed transfer after Casper's death is practically useless. It uses trees that were growing at the time (abt 1828) as markers for the property lines. Were they the same trees that may have been used to mark the property lines in 1774 when Henrich penned his will or when Henrich became the owner? The property lines were not described in his will. The Land Warrants I found were granted to "Casper Feeman" in 1734, my guess as the likely father of Henrich who named his only son Casper. The 1734 Warrant was voided in 1746, I believe, because Casper Feeman did not comply with the terms of the Warrant. A new Warrant for the same property was issued the same day to a Valentine Feeman, who later acquired other property by Warrant and the name was spelled Freeman for those. The property was probably never Deeded to the original Casper, but to Valentine. No Wills or Estates are on file for either of these men in Berks or Lancaster Counties. Thanks for your suggestions. Somewhere there MUST be a record that will make a connection. Just need some clues on where to dig. Thanks. Jim Freeman Jim, it is still not required to record a deed in PA. When we bought here in 1982 I did a title search and found one that wasn't recorded back in 1913. However, if the supposedly grandfather did have a deed did you check to see if it was on the same land? his deed description and the first one you found of your ancestor should jive. Or work through the tax records to see who paid taxes on the land after first owner died. Or if there were no wills for those first two you found, then go to orphans' court as there would have to have been an inventory, etc. and distribution if land was involved, whether or not actual orphans were involved. Did you also look for Letter of Administration? I assume you did that. Check orphans' court carefully because sometimes the accounts are in the name of the person acting as executor and not in children's names. Also I have a will mentioned in a will about 30 years after the ancestor died, but the will of first ancestor is lost. Also I had to write three times to Delaware Co courthouse to get a will which they told me two times wasn't there when I knew it was. Good luck. Happy New Year. Cathy ----- Original Message ----- From: James Freeman <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2002 4:21 PM Subject: [PDGO] Early Deed Transfers > In a nutshell, this is my problem: An ancestor of mine inherited land from his father abt 1774-5 and no deed transfer was filed in Berks County. After the son died in 1828, the Estate sold the property and a Deed transfer WAS filed which explained the earlier transfer from father to son according to the terms of the fathers Will. No record exists in Berks for where the father got the land. It was probably transfered BEFORE Berks County was formed in 1752. I checked with the Lancaster Co. Deeds Office & found no record there. The land would have been part of Lancaster before 1752. I checked at the State Archives to see if my ancestor received a Land Warrant from the state. No luck there for the earliest ancestor I have documented, but found two others with similar surnames who got land in "Tulpehocken" & "Heidelberg" as early as 1734. One of them has the same first name as the son of my earliest known ancestor. Could be the grandfather. > > I need to find some documentation of this early Deed transfer to hopefully make the family connection. I was told at the Lancaster Deed Office that it may not exist because it was not required to record it back then or it may have been recorded in Philadelphia. My question is where in Philadelphia would records of early deed transfers be found? > > Jim Freeman > > > ==== PADUTCHgenONLY Mailing List ==== > If you have questions about this list contact the admin at: > Joan Young, [email protected] or Don Hartman, [email protected] > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > > ==== PADUTCHgenONLY Mailing List ==== The OFFICIAL website for this list is: http://midatlantic.rootsweb.com/padutch/ ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237