Search Land, Court & Legal Archives

Probate records are the legal files created after an individual's death to settle their estate. They are highly valuable for genealogy because they often include a will, an inventory of the deceased's physical belongings, and explicit legal documentation naming their spouse, children, and heirs.

Land deeds are typically recorded and stored at the local county courthouse where the land is located. For original transfers of public land from the U.S. Government to individuals (such as Homestead Act claims), researchers use federal land patents issued by the General Land Office (GLO).

A "burned county" refers to a jurisdiction where the courthouse suffered catastrophic record loss due to fire, flood, or war (common in the Southern states during the Civil War). To research ancestors in these areas, genealogists must rely on alternative legal documents like federal land records, state-level taxes, and personal family papers.

Because federal censuses were only taken every ten years, an ancestor might move or pass away between census years without a trace. Tax lists were recorded annually, allowing researchers to track a family's exact location, wealth, and timeline of residence year by year.