If you can't find a deed of sale for your ancestor's real property, consider the fact that he didn't sell it. If your ancestors taxes became sufficiently delinquent, his property would be sold to pay those taxes. In the United States these sales are usually indexed under "Sheriff" and not the name of your ancestor.
Unless your ancestor was the sheriff.
In cases such as this, a sectional index (sometimes called abstracts of title) is an invaluable resource.
ReplyDeleteThose are excellent indexes (sometimes also called Tract Indexes in other locations)...Winnebago County didn't start them until around 1900 which was too late for me. If they had them, it would really have made the process easier--and might also have allowed me to locate other items I hadn't thought to look for.
DeleteGood tip - Thanks! I will be looking up quite a few of these.
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