Hello All!I wonder if anyone has a recommendation or two for me. I have not used many land records in my research mainly because I don't really understand them! Is there a book, guide, class that would be good to start with? My genealogy research and education budget is small (and I've over-spent already, of course!) so I'd prefer not to just blindly pick up a book if there's something you all would recommend above all else. I guess this subject just intimidates me a bit...Thanks so much!Alicia Watt

Alicia -- I know what you mean. For me it was like diving into an unheated swimming pool -- I stood around a long time before being persuaded! Three book possibilities, all good, in my order of personal preference: * Chapter 10 of _The Source_, "Land Records" by Sandra Hargreaves Luebking. If you have access to Ancestry, the book is on line there. * Christine Rose, _Courthouse Research for Family Historians_ is very approachable. * Val Greenwood's _Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy_ has two chapters on land. Since this book has many other good things in it, I would rate it higher, but its chapter on local land records starts out with pages and pages of definitions -- not my idea of an enticing introduction to anything! If you're handy to Indiana in April, I will be giving an introductory talk at the state genealogy society meeting in Bloomington about the goodies to be found in land records and an introduction to using them. Chris Staats of Ohio had a nice article on the same subject in a recent issue of _Family Tree_ magazine as well. Many bloggers touch on them (including me at http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com/2012/07/two-simple-things-deeds-can-do.html), but In Deeds (http://indeeds.blogspot.com) is all land records all the time. C'mon in, the water's fine! Harold Harold On Mon, Dec 3, 2012 at 1:05 PM, Alicia Watt <adwagain@hotmail.com> wrote: > > Hello All!I wonder if anyone has a recommendation or two for me. I have > not used many land records in my research mainly because I don't really > understand them! Is there a book, guide, class that would be good to start > with? My genealogy research and education budget is small (and I've > over-spent already, of course!) so I'd prefer not to just blindly pick up a > book if there's something you all would recommend above all else. I guess > this subject just intimidates me a bit...Thanks so much!Alicia Watt > The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive > environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to > professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > -- Harold Henderson midwestroots.net Research, Writing, and Brickwall Dismantling from Northwest Indiana Regularly Researching at the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center Certified Genealogist (SM) No. 1029 Certified Genealogist and CG are proprietary service marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists® used by the Board to identify its program of genealogical competency evaluation and used under license by the Board’s associates.