Updating has its advantages–we get to add a new masthead. Showing me, moi, I doing what I do best–tracing your hard-to-find Virginia ancestors or teaching you how if you wish to do the research yourself. And offering you the latest strategies to research, organize, and prove your family tree.
On any given day, you can find me in archives, libraries, cemeteries, or wherever your ancestors are lurking.
Virginia legalities were carried into many places where Virginians made up a substantial portion of the population. For example: all states formed from the Northwest Territory after 1803–Illinois, Indiana, Ohio (became a state in 1803), Michigan, and Wisconsin–the wife’s name appears on the grantors’ deeds along with the husband showing she consents to the sale of the property. No dower relinquishment was required. PGS Journal (Augusta 1987): 7.
A witness who signs a deed is: physically present at the signing, a resident of that jurisdiction, at least 14 years of age–usually age 21, and not a legatee/beneficiary to the property.
Title to property is conveyed by: deed, will /administration (inheritance), marriage. No documents need be formally registered if the land descends by inheritance or marriage.
Lease and release in a land document transfers title to a new owner, by-passing the ancient payment of quit-rent. A nominal rent is listed in the lease, the release by-passes the payment of the rent. If the document specifies a 21-year time for payment the parties are Roman Catholic (until 1778). If the document specifies 3-lives, the parties are Protestant. The 3-lives are not generations. They are concurrent, and usually related male persons.
When a major boundary is a survey line–local residents assign different names on both sides of the border. For example, along the Virginia-North Carolina line separating Lunenburg from Granville counties, Blue Stone Creek and Red Wing Creek are the same watercourse–at the boundary line the name changes. Virginia district courts established near this same boundary line in 1788 were Charlottesville District (Amherst county, Albemarle county, Fluvanna county, Louisa county); Prince Edward District (Buckingham county, Cumberland county); Richmond District (Powhatan county, Chesterfield county, Goochland county, Hanover county). These courts were abolished in 1808. See Eric G. Grundset, Historical Boundary Atlas of Central Virginia. 1999.
Your favorite Virginia genealogist, Arlene Eakle http://arleneeakle.com
PS The changes include a larger font-size which I appreciate. Stay tuned for a run-down on the Colonial people who settled early Virginia.