Sunday, May 24, 2009

Genealogy Journal 5/23/09

Today I went to my local Family History Library to review the two deeds I had ordered last month. The library was pretty busy today because of some classes they were giving. The first film I reviewed was a deed index, (grantor) film from Putnam Co., IN, for surnames starting with letters "T" through "Z."  I was looking for a deed by William Thomas and his wife, Elizabeth that was recorded around 1852 for two tracts of land - each a 1/7th share of 40 acres each - one in section 17 and one in section 8 of township 12 north of range 5. I was successful in finding this entry in the index. It referenced Deed book U on page 526.  I will need to order this film to see the actual deed that was recorded. I will order the film the next time I visit the library as I have had my hands full with the index film and the other film I ordered - Putnam County IN deed book R, S, and T.

In deed book S on page 224, I found the deed from George W Sabin and wife Margaret to Lenox M. Knight that was recorded 16 September 1853.  George Sabin sold off two tracts of land each of 1/7th shares of 40 A in sections 8 and 17 in township 12, north of range 5.  These shares were the same tracts of land that William Thomas, mentioned above, was selling in 1853.

The land that William Thomas and George W Sabin were selling were tracts of land that had been given as legacy to the 7 heirs of Etheldred Godwin upon his death in 1852. These tracts of land were traced via the husbands' names of Dred Godwin's daughters. More information about these deeds and Etheldred Godwin's family is to come....

I was able to use the digital microfilm viewer while at the library.  With this system I was able to find the deeds of interest and scan them, edit them on the fly, then save to my jump drive. It only costs $0.50 per 15 minutes, or $2.00/hr. Not bad. And it was fast. I had a list of all the deeds I wanted to scan and the corresponding pages from these films. I scanned almost all of the Godwin/Goodwin and Sabin deeds I could find. When I got home, I transcribed all 13 pages I had scanned copies of!

At the beginning of this deed book S was an index that listed alphabetically all of the grantors and grantees in the book. This was a great help!

I am allowed to keep the films at the library for 30 days. (I did pay $5.50 to order the films). I need to go back to the library and scan two more deeds from this deed book S. I also want to go back to the deed index and copy down all of the entries for William Thomas, and also for all the other Thomas men who recorded deeds. Although this is not my direct line, it might be able to help some of the Thomas descendants to place William Thomas into a familial line in Indiana.

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