Where's The Deed?

Records Room of the Belknap County, NH Registry of DeedsAre you trying to find the Deed that goes with the land that your ancestor owned, but your search comes up empty in the Deed Registry Office? Consider this... There may not be a Deed if the land was transfered to your ancestor or relative via probate. The only place that the real estate transfer may show up is in a probate record. So now aren't you happy that I told you that? Maybe you are appreciative of that little fact, but, guess what?....... You will have to know from whom the land or real estate was received in probate.

This can open a whole can of worms for your research. If you do not know from whom the real esate was transfered (if it was a relative) you will have to do a whole lot more research on the family and compare those names with probate records. This may not sound too bad if you are thinking of looking under only the surname of your person in question, but think about this... if there were females who married, the name changed and you will have to look for all those surnames as well. I know it is not the most pleasant thought, but doing a whole lot more digging may be the only way to find the answer you are looking for.

Research Tip: New Hampshire Deeds can be searched online at www.nhdeeds.com. You will still have to go to the particular Registry of Deeds office to get a hard copy of what you are looking for, but at least you can begin your quest online. If you know the document number you need, email or call the particular Registry of Deeds office to see if they will send you a copy (saving you some travel). Note that there may be a fee involved for the record.