Written by Melanie McComb
When vital records are elusive or don’t exist, genealogists need to turn to other records. One particular methodology is called “follow the money.” You may have heard this approach on police procedural television shows where they bring in a forensic accountant to follow the trail of financial transactions to the source. This is no different in genealogy. This methodology refers to researching financial records that your ancestors left behind.
The Strategy | Tracing Ancestors Through Financial Records
If your ancestor purchased land, had their estate handled through probate court, or even paid taxes, there is a record of each transaction. These records can not only reveal details about the financial wealth of your ancestors but also can identify close relationships.
Land Deeds | Tracing Ancestors Through Financial Records
Buying and selling real estate is often done between relatives, who are often the abutting neighbors to the parcel of land being sold. Family members may also witness the deeds. This is a common occurrence for many of my ancestors who lived in Prince Edward Island, Canada where farming was the most common occupation. Each adjoining plot of land could be the land that belonged to the father, his various sons, and his son-in-law.
York County, Maine Land Deed, Maine: Early Wills and Deeds, AmericanAncestors.org
Probate Records | Tracing Ancestors Through Financial Records
Parents will often name their surviving children in a will. Married daughters who receive a portion of an inheritance are often listed with their married surname, and sometimes with the name of their spouse. Probate records should be searched outside of immediate relatives, including aunts and uncles and cousins, especially if they had no living children as living heirs. They often would provide for the surviving children of their siblings and other family members.
Excerpt from the distribution from the estate of Joseph Knight where his children were listed, Essex County, Massachusetts, Case #16001, AmericanAncestors.org
Taxes
Tax collection has been a very consistent practice across societies. The records of who paid their taxes places your ancestor in a very specific location and time. Tax lists are very specific to the township or city where they lived. Taxes can be paid on personal property (which may include items like automobiles, carriages, and other luxury items) as well as on real estate. Your ancestors also may have paid taxes in multiple locations depending on where they lived and where their real estate holdings were located. If your ancestor did not pay their taxes, lists of delinquent taxpayers were often published in the local newspapers. One could also be sent off to debtor’s jail to serve out a sentence until a creditor would come forward to absolve the debt.
Boston Debtors Jail Record, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Records (FamilySearch)
Finding These Records
You can find many of these records on a variety of genealogical web sites, including AmericanAncestors.org, FamilySearch, and more. On AmericanAncestors.org, we have probate records for Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island. These include indexes, probate file papers, and the copybooks (clerk’s copy of probate proceedings). We also have land deeds for Maine, Plymouth Colony [Massachusetts], and Albany County, New York.
On FamilySearch, you can locate many of these records using the catalog and finding the records under the applicable category (ex. Land and Property, Tax Records, Town Records, and more). The FamilySearch Full-Text Search tool has been a gamechanger to help make these previously browsable only records available through name and keyword searches.
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