Interesting Research

Research can lead you in all directions whether you are searching on the internet, at the library or in our county courthouse. One thing just leads to another.

While doing research for an article about the oldest occupied house in Jasper County, I searched the county property records located in the office of Superior Court where they keep up with such things as deeds from the very beginnings of Jasper County.

Records contain property descriptions, sometimes there are drawings, some of the records are hand written, some typed on an old Remington I suspect. The room where these records are kept is filled with very, very heavy books lining the walls.

Very interesting to see that some of the last names from the 1800’s in these records are the last names of some of our present citizens.

Can you imagine buying some property today and having the property description includes such bizarre phrases as “go to the broken fence on the eastern portion, follow the tree line to the old McDermott place, the road bed will lead you over the creek to the western portion”? Such are some of the property descriptions on old deeds.

The phrase “more or less” is liberally used to describe how much land was being sold. Even today this phrase is used which can be a problem for the buyer, but does let the seller off the hook, just in case.

Whether you are the grantee or the grantor, party of the first party or even party of the second party, you got to know your metes and bounds.

The most historic deed I have ever seen is one for a piece of property in the Florida Keys that consisted of several hundred pages dating back to 1821 when Florida became a state. This deed was personally signed by the President of the United States at the time, James Monroe. All of the Keys make up Monroe County, Florida.

History abounds in these here parts. This coming December 10th, Jasper County will celebrate its 210th year.