Using Southern Land Records

In doing research on the Kennerly family in the South, I learned more than ever just how crucial land records can be. In the south, owning land meant just about everything, and people went to great lengths to make sure their land was legally theirs. Because of this, land records are abundant and usually very accurate for the South, even in burned counties.

That being said, the South is also a poor region, and not everyone owned land. But, the Kennerly family was well off (luckily for them) and consequently left behind a lot of deeds to land that they bought and sold (luckily for me!). And in a time where recording births and deaths was not common (marriages were a bit different, more on that next week), these land records played a major role in proving family relationships. Not all deeds record a lot of information about a landowner’s family, but I hope you can see from the following examples that land records can be a genealogical goldmine, and are well worth your time! 

1. In doing this research, I was having a hard time conclusively proving that Thomas was Samuel’s father, and that Samuel in turn was John Conrad’s father. But, in researching the land records for South Carolina and Louisiana, I found deeds that read essentially as wills- Thomas and Samuel listing their children(!!) and dictating how they wanted their property to be divided up. I was so excited to find these deeds that I shed a couple tears of joy in the Family History Library, much to my husband’s confusion. I never expected to find a full family list like these in the land records, but I’m so glad I did!

   

   Samuel Kennerly, deed to his children, 4 September 1868¹

   

   Thomas Kennerly, deed to his children and their spouses, 29 May 1843²

2. This next record was a huge help as well. I suspected that Samuel had moved from South Carolina to Mississippi, but had no definite proof. I didn’t even think to look for Samuel in the South Carolina land records after I suspected he had left, but luckily an index search for his dad brought my attention to this gem of a record. Because of this find, I knew Samuel had moved to Mississippi, and I even knew to which county.³
   

   

   Samuel Kennerly, land sale from Wilkinson, Mississippi, 20 November 1846

3. Land plats- surveys of land recorded and kept at the county- can be very handy as well, especially since so many people buy land next to their family. Here, John C. Kennerly (who I think is Thomas’s brother, and our John Conrad’s uncle) bought land and had it recorded in the plat books. His neighbors are: Thomas Kennerly, Nathan Walker, Samuel Holman and John Hartzog. Thomas Kennerly was the direct descendant of a Holman, had a daughter who married a John Nathan Walker, and another who married John Hartzog.⁴
   

   

   John C. Kennerly, land plat, 23 September 1823

4. This one is less about family relationships and more just an interesting tidbit about Thomas that I loved finding. In this deed, Thomas Kennerly and a group of 4 other men became trustees over the 3 acres of land “on which Mount Bethel Church is now erected.” From this record, I learned that Thomas was quite likely a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and a very religious man.⁵
   

   

   Thomas Kennerly, trustee to Mount Bethel Church, 28 December 1818

   ~AC

---

1 Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, Conveyance records, 1810-1888; index, 1765-1971, FHL #875557-876604, Conveyance records 1865-1868, pg. 567-569, item no. 8192, 4 September 1868; Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT.^↩
2 Barnwell District, South Carolina, “Deeds, 1789-1851; index to deeds, 1779-1884,”FHL #23293 vol. AA, p. 266-268, Thomas Kennerly and children, 29 May 1843; Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.^↩
3 Barnwell District, South Carolina, “Deeds, 1789-1851; index to deeds, 1779-1884,” FHL # 23293 vol. BB, p. 522-523, Samuel Kennerly, 20 November 1846; Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.^↩
4 Barnwell District, South Carolina, Plat books, 1784-1868; index, 1785-1949, FHL #192343, vol. 3 p. 193, John C. Kennerly, 27 September 1823; Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.^↩
5 Barnwell District, South Carolina, “Deeds, 1789-1851; index to deeds, 1779-1884,” FHL #23287, vol. N, p. 67, Thomas Kennerly, 28 December 1818; Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.^↩