Four generations of RICHARDSONs 1917

Four generations of RICHARDSONs 1917
William Richardson, Alice Josephine Richardson Dakin, Robert Worthington Richardson, Harry Bogart Richardson

Saturday, January 16, 2016

The Date of the Deed...Truth or Fiction Written in the Grantor Index?

A couple of years ago, the Massachusetts Land Office Records found in County Courthouses throughout Massachusetts, 1620-1986 came online on FamilySearch.org.  I was doing my "genealogy happy dance" thrilled to find my Thomas Dakeynes (Dakin) selling his early lands in Concord MA in 1659 to J Hayward.  I spent time admiring the beautiful records that I could easily view online, even though they weren't indexed.   The joy brought with it some questions, beginning with the actual date.  I blogged about that in 2013.

I revisited the questions and what I learned about the dates in the Grantor Index in an article that is in the current MASSOG (Vol. 40 (2015-2016), no. 1, 22-26).



































It is easy to say that the Grantor Index clearly gives a date of 12 August 1659, so that MUST be the date of the deed.  Looking  at the deed "clouds the issue" -- it is NOT dated 12 August 1659.  The word "August" doesn't appear anywhere in the deed!  
If you can't easily find a copy of my article in the current MASSOG (it is available online to Massachusetts Society of Genealogists (MSOG) members), I recommend you go back and read my blog and you'll understand the challenges of the date of the deed.























I will recommend that folks take a look at the whole issue of the MSOG's Journal MASSOG, it has interesting articles besides mine.  Happy reading!

©Erica Dakin Voolich, 2016