Deeds – A Pennsylvania Dutch Genealogy

Friday Finds: Stark County, Ohio Deed Archive

Kris Hocker on 7 Dec 2018

I’ve been following up on a clue regarding Michael Bender that led me to Stark County, Ohio. Needing to review a deed for the county, I went looking on FamilySearch to see if it was available online. No joy.

Next stop Google. One of the results was Archive Search Instructions for the Stark County Recorder. Lo and behold, deeds for 1809-1916 are available to search in their archives!

Stark County Recorder Archive search interface

It includes images for both the deed indices and the deed books and is easy to use—even if you can’t just type in a name and pull up a record.

First, you’ll need to create an account and log in
Choose Archives in the menu at the top of the page
Select your parameters for the indices in the top set of drop-down menus on the left
Click on the image icon to show the image
Go to the first letter of the surname, then look for the first letter of the given name
Make note of the page number associated with the first letter of the given name
Select that page from the “Page” menu and click the image icon

You can scroll through the images using the arrows just above the image.

Once you’ve found a deed you want to view in the indices, make note of the book letter or number and the page number. Use the lower set of “Books” menus to make your selections and click the image icon pull up that page. You can save, print, email and/or download a PDF of your selected page by using the controls at the top of the image.

I found the deeds I was looking for, plus others which are adding to my knowledge of the Bender family. Check it out for yourself!

Two Ludwig Schotts Using Land & Probate Records to Distinguish Between Two Men

Kris Hocker on 31 May 2018

On 10 February 1785, Ludwig and Catharina Schott had a son they named Ludwig in Upper Paxton Township, Dauphin County. He was baptized at Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church in Killinger. Seven months later on 3 September 1785, Ludwig’s brother Jacob and his wife Margaretha also had a son. He was baptized at St. Peter’s (Hoffman’s) Reformed Church in Lykens Valley. They, too, named him Ludwig.

One of these Ludwig Schotts married Margaretha Messner. Which one?

Ludwig Schott

Ludwig Shott married Margaretha Messner by 1811 in the upper end of Dauphin County. When he died in 1824, he and Margaret had four living children: Catharine, Susanna, John and George (a minor).¹ By 15 November 1841 when Susanna’s husband Christian Lenker petitioned the Orphans Court for an inquest to partition Ludwig’s land, Margaret had married Philip Schott.

According to the inquest, Ludwig’s land was partially in Mifflin Township and partially in Upper Paxton Township. He held 110 acres 23 1/4 perches of land “bounded by lands of the heirs of Jacob Shott, Ludwich Lenker, Jacob Woland, Peter Minnich, and others” along with an interest in and share of a grist mill—“the saw mill having fallen down”—between Jacob Shott and Ludwig Shott.²

Heirs of Jacob Shott? Jacob, like Ludwig, was a popular name in this family. Not only is there Jacob Shott, the father of one of the Ludwigs, but each of the Ludwigs had a brother named Jacob.

I found no record of deeds between Jacob and Ludwig Shott. However, from the probate, we know that we are looking for the Ludwig who:

1. Was married to Margaret

2. Owned land adjoining Jacob Shott, Ludwig Lenker, Jacob Woland and Peter Minnich

3. Shared ownership of a grist mill with Jacob Shott based on an agreement from 20 August 1824

Ludwig Schott, the Immigrant

Ludwig Schott Sr., grandfather of these two men, was in Upper Paxton Township, living along Wiconisco Creek by 1756. On 7 March 1756, Ludwig, along with his neighbors Andrew Lycans and John Rewalt, were fired upon by Native Americans. The men, injured, “managed to get over the mountains into Hanover Township, where they were properly cared for.”³ They did not return to their homes for some time.

During this timeframe, Ludwig married his second wife, Anna Barbara Laurin, at Augustus (Trappe) Lutheran Church in Montgomery County on 10 March 1757.⁴ Their first three children were born in Lancaster County and baptized at churches in Lancaster Borough.⁵

By 1767, he’d most likely moved his family back to the Lykens Valley. He applied for 160 acres on the north side of Wiconisco Creek 24 September 1767.⁶ The land was surveyed 19 May 1768. He did not patent it. Instead, 116 1/2 acres from this tract were patented to Jacob Shott in 1843 and the other 43 by Christian Bock in 1806.

There were two additional tracts adjoining this one that were warranted to a Ludwig Shott (Shutt, Shaut), presumably the same man. The 96 1/2-acre tract directly to the north was warranted 29 August 1774 and surveyed 29 February 1775.⁷ It was patented as two pieces of land in 1806 to Christian Bock and 1834 to Philip Shutt. The tract to the south, 87 3/4 acres, was warranted 26 April 1785 and surveyed 29 May 1806.⁸ It, too, was patented as two tracts, one of 22 acres on 4 June 1806 to Christian Bock and the second of 65 1/4 acres to Jacob Shutt on 12 June 1820.

Ludwig died circa 1788.⁹ After twelve men determined that the estate could not be divided among the heirs, Ludwig’s eldest son Jacob was awarded the property by the Orphans Court with the stipulation that he pay the other heirs their share of the value of the land—£415.

Jacob Shott

Jacob Shott died intestate on 1 October 1808.¹⁰ His eldest son Christian petitioned the court for an inquest to make a partition of his estate. Prior to his death Jacob owned about 220 acres in Upper Paxton Township with a mill. According to the petition, Jacob left a widow named Elizabeth and children: Christian, Jacob, John, Ludwig, Peter, Philip, Ann Mary wife of Leonard Snyder, Catharine wife of John Adam Herman, and Christiana wife of Abraham Feidt.

Jacob Shott Jr.

Ultimately, Christian relinquished his rights to the property.¹¹ The next eldest son, Jacob, took possession and agreed to pay the other heirs their share within a year of 1 March 1813. With Jacob Messner Sr. as surety, Jacob was bound for the sum of $8,000—twice the appraised value of the land (as was the custom).

Jacob died intestate in March 1840 in Mifflin (now Washington) Township.¹² His eldest son John petitioned the Orphans Court to partition his land, about 128 acres adjoining Ludwig Lenker, Samuel Longenbaugh, and others, on which there was a grist mill—“the one half of which mill belongs to the heirs of Ludwig Shott.”

And violà!

There’s the Jacob who owned the adjoining land and 1/2 the grist mill—Jacob Shott, son of Jacob Shott and grandson of Ludwig Shott. Was Ludwig Shott his brother? It seems most likely, but I found no deeds between him and his brother Ludwig. What evidence is there to show that this Ludwig was Jacob’s brother?

Although there are no deeds directly between Jacob and Ludwig, there are several pertaining to the property that either mention them or in which they are primary actors. The most direct reference, however, was recorded in a deed granting a power of attorney by Jacob’s brother John to their brother Christian.

On 14 November 1818, John Shott appointed his brother Christian as his trustee and guardian to “take recover and receive my said property and monies and the interest thereon accrueing and to dispose thereof for me and my use.”¹³ According to the document this included his inheritence from “my brothers Jacob Shott and Ludwig Shott who have taken the real estate of my father Jacob Shott deceased at the valuation of thereof the sum of five hundred and fifty dollars and twenty-five cents.”

Additionally, Jacob Shott and Ludwig Shott sold to Christian Shott on 22 April 1814, 16 acres 80 perches of land adjoining their land, Christian’s other land, and George Minnich, for $231.¹⁴ So, sometime between accepting his father’s land from the Orphans Court on 1 March 1813 and the following spring, Jacob must have formerly sold part of their father’s land to Ludwig—possibly in lieu of or as Ludwig’s share of the inheritance.

An examination of tax records for Upper Paxton Township shows that Jacob and Ludwig had been sharing the land—and paying taxes on it together—since their father’s death. In 1808 Jacob Sr. is crossed out and marked deceased on the tax list and Jacob and Ludwig are listed together with an assessed valuation of $600 and tax of $4.50.¹⁵ They are listed together in the Upper Paxton tax records until 1820 when Jacob is listed in the Mifflin Township records with the grist and saw mill.¹⁶

Why’d You Do That?

You may ask, why I went through this exercise when the Ludwig who married Margaretha Messner is shown as Jacob Schott’s son in online family trees. Maybe I’m just a curious sort, maybe I’m perverse and untrusting, or maybe I just get confused easily when there are multiple people with the same name—and there are so many of them in my families!

But I often find myself asking (even of myself), “how do you know that?” Especially where there are no citations or source information. When you come upon conflicting information—and it’s likely you will—how will you resolve it?

I could’ve just cited the online family tree and left it at that. But by doing the work, I’ve collected and reviewed documentation that not only verifies the relationship between Ludwig and Jacob, but also starts to fill in the timeline of Ludwig’s life and provide insight into the family. It adds to the knowledge I’ve accumulated regarding this family which in turn will help me to better understand future clues in a much more efficient manner.

Identifying Jacob Wolf’s Children Using the Paper Trail to Understand a Genetic Match

Kris Hocker on 27 Sep 2017

Back in May I wrote a post about possibly discovering the identity of one of the children of Jacob and Magdalena (Brey) Wolf based on a match through AncestryDNA. The match was a descendant of Samuel and Judith (Wolf) Snyder. I followed it with a post regarding one of our shared matches whose ancestry could be traced back to the Brey and Yeakel families, both of which appear in my Wolf line. This discovery supported my hypothesis that either or both Samuel and Judith were related to my Snyder and Wolf lines.

Now that FamilySearch has started making Pennsylvania deed books available online, I was able to search for Jacob Wolf of Allentown in the indices. And guess what I found? The names of Jacob’s children—and in two cases where his children had died, his grandchildren.

Jacob Wolf

Jacob Wolf was born 5 November 1787 in what is now Lehigh County to Conrad and Catharine (Yeakel) Wolf. He married Magdalena Brey and they had eleven children, seven of whom were alive when he died 20 January 1868.

On 25 January 1868, Joel Wolf, Conrad Wolf, Absalom Wolf, Ephraim Grim, and John Schimpf posted $5,000 bond on the estate of Jacob Wolf. Joel, Conrad and Absalom were the estate administrators.¹ On 7 February, Henry Kleckner and John Schimpf took an inventory of Jacob’s “goods and chattels.” They were apparently worth $2,772.60.² Joel and Absalom Wolf submitted their administration account on 12 March 1869.³ While it is customary that family members served as estate administrators, so we can infer that Jacob, Conrad and Absalom were related to Jacob—presumably his sons—not one of the documents name their relationship.

In early April 1869, a series of deeds relating to the estate were recorded with the Lehigh County Register of Deeds. In each of the deeds, the heirs of Jacob Wolf were selling his property in Allentown. On 1 April, the estate sold land to C.L. Martin,⁴ on 2 April to George Seiple,⁵ John Bowen,⁶ Absalom Wolf,⁷ Joel Wolf,⁸ and Mary Wolf.⁹

In each case, the deed specifically names Jacob’s children and, in two cases, his grandchildren, as:

Joel Wolf [Elizabeth]
Conrad Wolf [Catharine]
Absalom Wolf [Louisa]
Jacob Wolf [Julianne]
Mary Wolf
Eliza, widow of Charles Wetherhold
Mary, wife of David Miller
Emanuel Wolf (dec’d)
- Children of Emanuel: Charles [Amanda], Enos, Susan and Lavinia
Judith (dec’d), wife of Samuel Snyder
- Children of Judith: Jacob [Caroline], Nathaniel, Charles [Coletta], Sophia wife of Tighlman Fatzinger, and Anna wife of Daniel Mabes

Jacob Wolf’s heirs

The signatures associated with these deeds included all the named heirs and where appropriate, their spouses (in brackets).

The 1850 census enumeration for Jacob’s household in East Allentown only includes Jacob, Magdalena, Charles, and Catherine Wolf.¹⁰ However, family members were living nearby. His daughter Judith and her family is only four households away¹¹ and Absalom’s only another two households farther on.¹² In 1860, Tilghman and Sophia Fatzinger are four households prior to Jacob,¹³ Jacob and Julianne¹⁴ are next door to Jacob,¹⁵ grandson Jacob and wife Amanda¹⁶ are multiple pages earlier, as are Samuel and Judith Snyder¹⁷ and Absalom and Louisa.¹⁸

Based on this information Jacob’s daughter Judith was, in fact, the Judith (Wolf) Snyder who I wrote about in my post Unexpected Discovery from AncestyDNA Match. This makes “E” and I 4th cousins once removed through Judith (Wolf) Snyder and potentially 4th cousins once removed through Samuel Snyder, as well.

Furthermore, I also have another match, “J,” on AncestryDNA who can trace his family back to Jacob Wolf, born about 1819 of Lehigh County. Given the birth year and location—and our match as 4th-6th cousins, I’m theorizing that this Jacob is the son of Jacob and Magdalena (Brey) Wolf. This would make us fifth cousins. “J” shares 44 cMs of DNA with me. Nearly twice the average for fifth cousins, possibly indicating an additional relationship, but a definite possibility.

I know some people seem to think that if they do the DNA test, their family tree will just magically build itself. That has not been my experience, at all. Without the work that I’ve already done to build out my pedigree, I wouldn’t be able to identify my relationship to more than a handful of my DNA matches.

The DNA match itself is one more piece of evidence that I can use to build my proof statement. While it may help me to assess genealogy records pertaining to an ancestor with more confidence, it is still only one piece of the puzzle that I must build into a larger picture.

Pennsylvania Deeds Online at FamilySearch

Kris Hocker on 8 Jul 2017

You know I love deeds. I’ve been haunting the FamilySearch catalog watching and waiting for them to add microfilm of county deeds online. Several of my counties of interest are now available!

The camera icon indicates the records are available digitally. Click the icon to access that book.

Per the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, “Allegheny, Berks, Bucks, Cambria, Chester, Cumberland, Delaware, Erie, Fayette, Lancaster, Montgomery, Schuylkill, Somerset, and Washington are among those online. Most are from the earliest years through the mid to late 19th century, with some into the early 20th century.”

Although they are not indexed, so you can’t search for your ancestor online, the index books are available. You can look your ancestor up in the index—just as you would offline—then access the book online and download a copy of the deed.

Deeds are a fantastic source of information. So, give it a whirl and let me know what you find out!

New Online Deed Viewer Lancaster County (PA) Recorder of Deeds Online E-Film Reader

Kris Hocker on 30 Oct 2016

The Lancaster County Recorder of Deeds has made available a new online deed e-film reader. Not only can you view the deeds online, but you can also search the deed indices by name.

You will be asked to login, but you can simply login as a guest by clicking a button. The e-film reader will open in a new window. To search the deed indices, click the “Infodex” link at the top of the screen. You can choose to search by grantor or grantee and enter a person’s name, last name first.

Lancaster County Online E-film reader index search

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Online E-film Reader Index Search

Once you have a reference, you can click the “EFilm Reader” link. Enter the book—in this case “F3”—and click “Load Film.”

Adam Nees to Frederick Hacker, Book F3:371

The page number will likely not exactly match the image number. As you can see from the image, page 371 is image 376. Usually, it’s close, but you may need to “scroll” a bit in order to find the deed you’re looking for, especially in books where you can’t actually read the page number.

I really like the new online e-film reader. It’s simple to use and doesn’t have the quirks the previous reader had regarding how to enter the book. Best of all—for me—the index and deed books are in one tool and it works on Chrome, Safari, and Firefox. No more switching to Firefox to look-up people in the deed index.

If you need to do land research in Lancaster County, try it out. I bet you’ll be doing the happy dance like me. 😉

Friday Find: Cumberland County Deed Indices Doing the Genealogy Happy Dance

Kris Hocker on 24 Jun 2016

I went looking to rent some films from FamilySearch for some research I’m doing. I discovered that images from the very films I need are available online!

Each of those camera icons indicate that that particular microfilm is available for online viewing.

Although the images aren’t indexed, they’re no more difficult to use than the microfilm would be. And, oh, it’s so much more convenient to be able to instantly use them at home!

Happy happy, joy joy joy.

Part II: The Greulich Farm Connecting Five Generations with Deeds & Probate Records

Kris Hocker on 5 Oct 2015

In my last post about the Greulich farm, I compared the metes and bounds from two documents—Henry Snyder’s 1830 mortgage and Henry D. Snyder’s 1899 deed—and determined that there was a significant overlap between the two. While searching for a photo to use for the post, I found additional deeds to examine.

Having now looked through these deeds, I’ve been able to put together a timeline for the property, as follows:

Godfried Wissler wrote his last will and testament 3 April 1825 and it was proven on 21 October 1829.¹ He wrote: “It is my will and I do order that my real estate shall be sold by my Executors on public sale…”
On 2 April 1830, Jacob Stoyer, administrator of Godfried Wissler’s will sold Henry Snyder 62 acres 40 perches.²
On 1 April 1857, Henry Snyder sold 59 acres 128 perches to his son Joseph Schneyder.³
On 3 April 1861, Joseph Schneyder and his wife Judith sold this same tract to her first cousin Nathaniel Deischer of Hereford Township, Berks County.⁴ Henry Snyder’s mortgage on the original property was paid off on 3 April 1861, so it appears Joseph and Judith sold the land in order to pay the debt.⁵
On 24 March 1866, Nathaniel Deischer and Lydia his wife sold the 59 acres 89 perches to John Rooks of Warren County, New Jersey.⁶
On 20 February 1869, John Rook and his wife Cheretta sold 59 acres 89 perches to Addy Ziegler of Marlborough Township, Montgomery County.⁷
On 8 April 1869, Henry Hartman and Caroline his wife sold 16 acres 128 perches to Addy Ziegler.⁸ This was formerly part of the land of Thomas Lynch.
On 8 April 1875, Addy Ziegler and Elizabeth his wife sold 59 acres 89 perches and 16 acres 128 perches to Elias H. Hoch of Upper Hanover Township.⁹
On 29 March 1877, Elias H. Hoch and his wife Lavinia sold 59 acres 84 perches (part of the two adjoining tract purchased from Ziegler) to Joseph Schneider of Upper Hanover Township.¹⁰
Joseph Snyder wrote his last will and testament on 10 July 1894, which states “All the rest, residue and remainder of my estate, real, personal and mixed, whatever and wherever, I order and direct to be converted into money as soon as the same can conveniently be done after my decease.”¹¹ He died 4 November 1895 and his will was proven on 7 December 1895.
Joseph Snyder’s executors, Henry D. Snyder and Amandus Snyder, sold 55 acres and 84 perches (except 40 square perches) to their brother Mahlon Snyder on 1 April 1899.¹²
On 1 July 1899, Mahlon Snyder sold 55 acres 84 perches (except 40 square perches) to Henry D. Snyder.¹³
On 22 August 1928, Henry and Saraphine Snyder sold 55 acres 84 perches to their son-in-law and daughter, Elmer and Lillian Greulich.¹⁴

Thus, I can prove—thank you, Snyder and Greulich ancestors for holding onto all those deeds!—the land descended from Godfried Wissler to his son-in-law Henry Schneider to his son Joseph Schneider, then through other hands until most of it was bought back by Joseph Schneider in 1877, then eventually to his son Henry Deischer Snyder.

Can we go back further? Let’s find out.

The Greulich Farm Using Deeds to Prove Henry Snyder Was Joseph Snyder's Father

Kris Hocker on 28 Sep 2015

When I last wrote about Joseph Snyder, I was on the trail of his father and believed he was the same Henry Snyder whose mortgage indenture I had in my possession. The 1850 census for Henry Snyder of Upper Hanover Township included Henry, Sarah, Joel, Joseph, Louisa Anna, and Sophie Schnider.¹ Although I can infer a relationship between the household members, it is not directly indicated in this record.

I also postulated that Joseph Snyder received his father’s farm sometime before Henry’s death. Based on the metes and bounds as outlined in Henry Snyder’s mortgage, it sounded like the location of the farm that I’ve always known as the “Greulich farm” which was located just outside East Greenville in Upper Hanover Township, diagonally opposite the New Goshenhoppen Church. Since I have two deeds—one for Henry Snyder’s farm and one for the farm my great great grandfather Henry Deischer Snyder purchased from his father’s estate—I figured I would compare the metes and bounds to determine once and for all if they were the same farm.

Henry Snyder farm Upper Hanover Township

Henry Snyder’s farm

Henry Snyder (1830)

Henry Snyder purchased 62 acres from Jacob Stoyer, the administrator of Godfrey Wissler’s estate.² Godfrey Wissler was Henry’s father-in-law.³

Henry and Sarah Snyder sold pieces of this land in 1839 (to Peter Strunk⁴) and 1850 (to George Gery⁵ and George Seasholtz⁶). These sales totaled about 7 acres.

Henry D. Snyder (1899)

Henry D. Snyder (aka Greulich) farm

Joseph Snyder died in 1895. His sons Henry D. and Amandus D. Snyder served as executors of his last will and testament, proven 7 December 1895, which required that his land be sold and the proceeds divided into seven equal shares and divided amongst: Henry, Irwin, Clement, Amandus, Mary, Sally, and Ida.⁷ On 1 April 1899, Henry and Amandus sold 55 acres to Mahlon Snyder.⁸ On 1 July 1899, Mahlon and his wife Clara sold 55 acres to Henry D. Snyder, except 40 square perches that Henry and Amandus sold to the Upper Hanover school district.⁹

The northwest sections of these maps, I believe, are a very close match—likely with miscellaneous additions to and subtractions from the original tract between 1839 and 1899.

This farm was in Henry’s possession until his death in 1931 when it passed to his only child Lillian Witmer (Snyder) Greulich. It passed to her only child, Russ, after her death in 1949. The remains of the house and farm buildings can be seen on Google Maps’ satellite image along School House road, up to the corner with Third Street and Church Road.

Joel and Joseph Snyder

On 13 May 1861, the spring following Henry Snyder’s death, Joel Snyder and his wife Catharine and Joseph Snyder and his wife Judith sold a piece of land in East Greenville to Lucianna Mock, widow, and Sophia Schneider, spinster.¹⁰ This deed states that Henry Schneider died intestate with four children: Joel, Joseph, Lucianna intermarried with Peter Mock (now deceased), and Sophia, and that Joel and Joseph had agreed to sell the plot to their sisters.

Evidence doesn’t get much clearer than this. Joel, Joseph, Lucianna, and Sophia were the children of Henry Schneider of Upper Hanover Township. Thus, the 1850 census entry for Henry shows him, his wife, and their children.

Either Henry sold his farm to Joseph prior to his death or Joseph’s siblings sold it to him after his death. I haven’t found a deed or other reference to this transfer, but the deed maps show that the land Joseph’s sons sold after his death contain at least part of the original land that Henry Snyder purchased in 1830 from his father-in-law’s estate. In 1860, Joseph owned $5000 worth of real estate¹¹, his father only $1500¹², and brother only $1,000.¹³ Joseph was a farmer in 1860, and this—with the value of his real estate—indicates to me that he already owned a farm by 1860. It seems probable that it was his father’s farm.

Addendum

In looking for the photo I’ve used as the feature image for this post, I found a treasure trove of family deeds. Check in next time to see what they tell me.

Announcing An Index to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Online Deeds

Kris Hocker on 29 Jul 2014

Books A through D, Covering 1729-1760

An Index to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Online Deeds, Books A-D, 1729-1760 is now available as a paperback book as well as a Kindle ebook. You can purchase it on Lulu.com for $14.95.

My latest endeavor—An Index to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Online Deeds, Book A-D, 1729-1760— has gone live at Amazon as a Kindle book. It’s creation was fraught with indecision and frustration as I tried to figure out the best way to take the information from spreadsheet to the limited format of the Kindle ebook.

I once read somewhere that the majority of Americans have ancestors who lived or passed through Lancaster County at some point. That’s certainly true for my family—nearly my entire paternal line lived in Lancaster County after immigrating to America. This book indexes the buyers and sellers of land in the earliest days after the county’s formation in 1729.

Land was wealth to our ancestors. And deeds, which record the transfer of land between people, are an excellent place to learn about them. Not only will a deed place a person in a specific place at a specific time, but it can also teach us about the relationships between people—not only the buyer and seller, but sometimes the previous owners, as well. Deeds also name spouses, occupations and neighbors. In the case of estate settlements, deeds can even provide the make-up of a family by naming the heirs—most often children, but sometimes cousins, grandchildren, etc.—and their spouses. Tracing the ownership of a piece of land through multiple deeds can often provide data on multiple generations of a family.

This books indexes the online images of Lancaster County deeds found at the county’s Recorder of Deeds website. Although deeds are available online for the years 1729 through 1986, only those after 1981 are searchable.

Each listing in my book provides the following:
•   Grantor (name of each individual)
•   Grantee (name of each individual)
•   Book
•   Volume (as required)
•   Page number
•   Image number
•   Date of deed
•   Date recorded
•   Property location or type of deed (e.g., quitclaim, mortgage, etc.)

There is only a loose correlation between the page and the actual film frame number, so I’ve provided both the page and image number for each entry to provide direct access to the correct online page. Instruction for using the online efilm reader are included in the book and can also be found here on my website.

See more of my books here.

The Trials and Tribulations of Formatting a Deed Index Ebook

Kris Hocker on 25 Jul 2014

I’ve been working on an index of the online Lancaster County deed books for a while now. And it’s taken significantly longer than I’d expected. Compiling the index didn’t take long. Formatting it, however, has taken ages.

Mostly because I kept changing my mind.

My goal was to make the index easy to use in both printed and electronic forms. An ebook book or PDF can be searched, but a printed book needs to be easy to skim—especially an index. So, initially I decided to organize the index in a table format reminiscent of the original grantor and grantee indexes produced by the county.

Starting from my table in Microsoft Excel, sorted by surname, deed book and page, I opened and saved the file as a Word doc, then opened it in Pages for editing.¹ Then I modified the table to create a separate table for each letter of the alphabet, adding a table header to each. Not too bad, although the font size was fairly small in order to get the information to fit nicely on the page.

Unfortunately, because ebooks don’t accept tables, I needed to format the manuscript differently for them. This entailed removing all the table formatting, changing table cells to tabs, then replacing the tabs with either a comma and space, em dash, or carriage return to create a long list.

This was time consuming and ultimately created a very long document. Which then had to be checked against the original “print” format to ensure that I hadn’t inadvertently messed up any of the data during the conversion. And while reviewing it, I found it difficult to easily identify where the in list one surname stopped and the next began.

Worse—I, then, decided to include additional information for each entry. Oh, the headaches that followed that decision.

Did I already add that information to this file or that file? What about the grantee table? Did I add it there? And what the heck was going on with the table? It didn’t fit on the page anymore. I could drop the font size, but then nobody would be able to read it without a magnifying glass!

I finally decided that two formats was too many. Too much to format, too much to edit. I would just have to find a way to make the list more legible and use it for both electronic and print versions of the book.

After some trial and error, I finally found a format I liked that I felt looked good both in print and in the kindle previewer.
I hope you will agree!

The book An Index to the Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Online Deeds, Books A-D, 1729-1760 will be available as an ebook on Amazon Kindle and in print at Lulu and Amazon. Release date to come.

Tag: Deeds