The reason you can't find an age is because there wasn't one, just as today there isn't. Children inherited land you can find that in many wills. The law in England was no different. There was not and is not a minimum age for landownership. A child would be required to have a legal adult in charge of their affairs but those adults would be administering the child's property. While it is not likely a child purchased land it's not impossible, a guardian could make the purchase for investment for the child, but the deed would show the owner - the child. Deeds don't request ages and they don't show ages so any deed you saw for the late 1600s wouldn't show an age. Inheritance could be in play, I researched a family where the father died on the voyage over from England in the 1680s, he wasn't the only one to die on voyages over or shortly after. Working on assumption may give you what ends up being the correct answer but you are still going to need some other record to actually verify the age of a landowner. If you can't find birth records a will or probate would be a better source for a guess - did the person have a wife? Children and if so were they minors or adults? Liz Harrison In a message dated 5/30/2009 12:18:06 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: I've looked at a number of deeds and tax lists for Philadelphia & surrounds in the late 1600s but none of those I was looking for was under 21. Most were men who received grants of land from the Crown or Penn or whomever was selling it and were men with families, so well over 21. Under English law you would have to be 21 - you would think it would have been the same. Most were probably first generation immigrants pre-1700, too, so inheritance wasn't in play yet - even then, there would be some sort of guardian for a minor. Liane ********* Visit the threaded archives of this list: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/PHILLY-ROOTS ********* ------------------------------- 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 **************A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1221322950x1201367186/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072&hmpgID=62&bcd= MaystepsfooterNO62)