Neighborhood Land Search Update

After viewing the tax records, I ordered the next deed books that I felt I needed to read through in order to find the remaining neighbors’ land.  Last Saturday, I went to my local Family History Center to view them.  Unfortunately, I didn’t find any of the neighbors I’m still looking for.  There were deeds of interest to me in them for the particular area, but just didn’t happen to be for my ancestor’s neighbors.

I looked through all of vol. R and began reading through vol. Q.  Since the microfilm scanner was being used by another patron, I put off scanning what documents I found and resolved to scan them at a later date.

Once I returned home, I decided since I was almost finished reading through vol. Q that I would order another roll of microfilm and that’s when I made an amazing discovery.  Apparently, FamilySearch.org has digitized some of the deed books I’m interested in reading through available online.  Still many of these records haven’t yet been digitized, but because many that I’m interested in reading through are, I won’t have to order them and can view them from the comfort of my living room.

Since vols. Q and R were available digitally, I was able to download the images I had noted down while at my local Family History Center.  Then I took up where I left off in vol. Q and downloaded what images pertained to the area I’m researching.

Portion of digitized deed book

The schedule for this coming Saturday is to look through the rest of vol. Q and download any that are pertinent to my research.  Then if I have time, enter them into DeedMapper.

I searched through more of FamilySearch’s land records holdings for Hardeman County, Tennessee and found that survey books, one roll of petition records, and an early roll of tax records have all been digitized so they’re available online.

What helped me was the fact that the deed index for Hardeman County, Tennessee has been digitized.  Yes, just because it’s an index I know that it’s not inclusive of every deed or document that was ever recorded in Hardeman County.  But still, it’s a place to start in locating the remaining neighbors’ deeds or review to see if I missed something.

After noticing this interesting bit, I looked through the 1860 census and noted on my neighbor list those who had been enumerated in Civil District 12.  This information should help me determine when someone may have purchased their land in my ancestor’s neighborhood.  The only obstacle with the land records in Hardeman County is that tax records and deeds during the years around the Civil War are not extant.  So there is the possibility that if some of John Washington Womble’s neighbors bought land during that time period that the document may not have survived the war.  There’s also the possibility that the deed could’ve been recorded much later.

The search continues…

The Further Adventures of the Womble Neighborhood Land Search

I was able to resume my search for John Washington Womble’s neighbors earlier this year.  The microfilm that I’d requested last fall and resulted in a minor snafu with the FHL was resolved in February.  I was able to make copies of the tax records for Civil District 12 for the years 1869-1872 and took note of the amount of acreage the neighbors owned.

I then used this information when imputing the information into the spreadsheet I created about John Washington Womble’s neighbors.  The spreadsheet lists out the individual land plots that the neighbors owned and whether or not it’s been platted out.  Then I listed out what plots of land I’m still missing.  The list also contained the land acreage based on the findings from the tax records I viewed.

After I’d viewed the tax records, I ordered the next deed books that I felt I needed to read through in order to find the remaining neighbors’ land. While waiting for the microfilm to arrive, I checked out topographical maps on the U.S. Geological Survey's website at http://www.usgs.gov/. Maps can be searched for and downloaded for free from their site. I've wanted a more detailed map and one that I knew the scale or a least could determine the scale better that I could place my plats on.
I selected the section of Hardeman County, Tennessee that I'm interested in and then began downloading. I selected 4 maps and then needed to find a way to piece them together. Once they were downloaded, I used a graphic editing program to clip away the white borders surrounding each of the map images. Then pieced the images together and created a larger image or map which was then imported into DeedMapper.
Hopefully this new background map will help me more when placing the plats.

Part of Hardeman County, Tennessee topographical map

Hardeman County, Tennessee Tax Records

In my review of the roll of Tax Records for Hardeman County, Tennessee, I discovered something I’d missed on my earlier viewings of this roll—a section titled, Additional Tax Reported. These lists cover only the years 1870-1872 and lists out what I’ve theorized only as people that were missed on the previous lists or perhaps they’re delinquent tax payers. I somehow doubt the latter and more believe the earlier theory.

The people are listed in non-alphabetical order, so are basically randomly listed. The civil district they lived in was noted by their name and then the other usual information was given as on the other tax lists. These lists are categorized by year, but that’s really the only organization to them.

Excerpt from Additional Tax Reported section.