Tracing History Through Title Deeds: A Guide for Family & Local Historians
Property title deeds are perhaps the most numerous sources of historical evidence but also one of the most neglected. While the information any one deed contains can often be reduced to a few lines, it can be of critical importance for family and local historians. Nat Alcock's handbook aims to help the growing army of enthusiastic researchers to use the evidence of these documents, without burying them in legal technicalities. It also reveals how fascinating and rewarding they can be once their history, language and purpose are understood. A sequence of concise, accessible chapters explains why they are so useful, where they can be found and how the evidence they provide can be extracted and applied. Family historians will find they reveal family, social and financial relationships and local historians can discover from them so much about land ownership, field and place names, the history of buildings and the expansion of towns and cities. They also bring our ancestors into view in the fullness of life, not just at birth, marriage and death, and provide more rounded pictures of the members of a family tree.
1127062005
Tracing History Through Title Deeds: A Guide for Family & Local Historians
Property title deeds are perhaps the most numerous sources of historical evidence but also one of the most neglected. While the information any one deed contains can often be reduced to a few lines, it can be of critical importance for family and local historians. Nat Alcock's handbook aims to help the growing army of enthusiastic researchers to use the evidence of these documents, without burying them in legal technicalities. It also reveals how fascinating and rewarding they can be once their history, language and purpose are understood. A sequence of concise, accessible chapters explains why they are so useful, where they can be found and how the evidence they provide can be extracted and applied. Family historians will find they reveal family, social and financial relationships and local historians can discover from them so much about land ownership, field and place names, the history of buildings and the expansion of towns and cities. They also bring our ancestors into view in the fullness of life, not just at birth, marriage and death, and provide more rounded pictures of the members of a family tree.
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Tracing History Through Title Deeds: A Guide for Family & Local Historians

Tracing History Through Title Deeds: A Guide for Family & Local Historians

by Nat Alcock
Tracing History Through Title Deeds: A Guide for Family & Local Historians

Tracing History Through Title Deeds: A Guide for Family & Local Historians

by Nat Alcock

eBook

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Overview

Property title deeds are perhaps the most numerous sources of historical evidence but also one of the most neglected. While the information any one deed contains can often be reduced to a few lines, it can be of critical importance for family and local historians. Nat Alcock's handbook aims to help the growing army of enthusiastic researchers to use the evidence of these documents, without burying them in legal technicalities. It also reveals how fascinating and rewarding they can be once their history, language and purpose are understood. A sequence of concise, accessible chapters explains why they are so useful, where they can be found and how the evidence they provide can be extracted and applied. Family historians will find they reveal family, social and financial relationships and local historians can discover from them so much about land ownership, field and place names, the history of buildings and the expansion of towns and cities. They also bring our ancestors into view in the fullness of life, not just at birth, marriage and death, and provide more rounded pictures of the members of a family tree.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781526703477
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date: 01/31/2020
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 232
Sales rank: 815,643
File size: 7 MB

About the Author

Nat Alcock is the Emeritus Reader in the Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations viii

List of Tables x

Preface xi

Abbreviations xii

Image Credits xii

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

Deeds as History 1

Chapter 2 Why 10

Deeds for People 10

Post-medieval Evidence 11

Medieval Evidence 17

People in the Community 19

People in Copyhold Deeds and Manor Court Rolls 22

Deeds for Places and for Houses 24

Land 24

Houses 31

Large-scale Studies of Deeds 40

Chapter 3 Where 45

What to Look For 46

The Local Historian's Objectives 46

The Family Historian's Objectives 47

Where to Look 48

Local Collections 48

Out-county Records 48

National Collections 49

The National Archives 51

Enrolled and Registered Deeds 59

Private Copies of Deeds 66

The Land Registry 67

Deeds in Private Hands 69

Dispersed Deeds 71

One the Trail 75

New Ways to Find Deeds 76

Chapter 4 How 81

Tenure 82

Post-medieval Deeds 83

Introduction 83

Studying a Deed Bundle 83

Shapes and Patterns 88

Types of Post-Medieval Deeds 94

Lease and Counterpart Lease; Assignment of Lease 95

Lease and Release 99

Mortgage 109

Bond 112

Settlements 114

Fines and Recoveries 118

Letters Patent 125

Bargain-and-Sale; Feoffment 127

Quitclaim 130

Perpetual Lease 130

Copies of Court Roll 131

Miscellaneous Post-Medieval Deeds 132

The Contents of Deed Bundles 133

Medieval Deeds 135

Introduction 135

Dating 136

Shapes and Patterns 137

Clauses 138

Types of Medieval Deeds 143

Gifts and Grants 143

Quitclaims 147

Leases 147

Fines 148

Other Medieval Deeds 149

Manorial Court Rolls and Copies of Court Roll 151

Copies of Court Roll 153

Manorial Customs 158

Medieval Copies of Court Roll 160

Appendix 1 Flowchart to Identify Deed Types 165

Appendix 2 Sample Deed Record Sheet 168

Appendix 3 Post-medieval Letter Forms 170

Appendix 4 Texts of Typical Deeds 171

Further Resources and Select Bibliography 190

Glossary of Deed Terms 195

Index of Subjects 200

Index of People and Places 210

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