Historic deeds from many Southern states have been digitized and can be found online.
While some are accessed at a centralized state site, others have to be accessed at the county level.
For some North Carolina counties, deeds can be found by going to the particular county's courthouse website and then to the deed area of the site. You can usually print out the deed for free from home.
An example is the site for Cumberland County, N.C., at www.ccrod.org, where I found my Parker ancestor's deed from 1774 and later the 1810 division of his land.
Tennessee deeds also are coming online via various counties. Shelby County (Memphis) is one of them. Go to http://register.shelby.tn.us, where there are deed images back to 1812, as well as a lot of other county records.
Maryland deeds have been available for a number of years at www.mdlandrec.net.
South Carolina is not known to have a lot of counties doing this, but deeds for Greenville County can be found at www.greenvillecounty.org/rod/searchrecords.asp. This leads to the Register of Deeds office, for deeds starting in 1785.
In Georgia, the Georgia Archives has posted online the Chatham County deed books from 1785 to 1806. Check www.GeorgiaArchives.org and then go to the Virtual Vault.
Many historic deeds have been available for decades on microfilm at various state archives as well as through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) via their Family History Centers all over the nation. Many of these microfilm records are being digitized and will be found online soon. Check www.familysearch.org and then the states and counties to see if any you seek are available.
Genealogy classes
Susan Sloan, professional genealogist, begins a series of genealogy classes July 25, running once a month through October. These will be held at the Life Enrichment Services/Senior Connections Center, 1340 McConnell Dr., Decatur, from 1 to 3 p.m. with tuition of $20 per class session.
To register, contact Jerome Gray at 404-321-6960 or Jgray@seniorconnectionsatl.org. Online registration is at www.seniorconnectionsatl.org.
Topics will be July 25: finding your family in the census; Aug. 22: military records research; Sept. 26: using deeds in family research; and Oct. 24: family research in the courthouse. Two computer classes will be offered Aug. 10 and Nov. 30, from 2 to 4 p.m.
Library hours changing
The local genealogy rooms for Marietta and Athens have changes in their hours and availability.
The Georgia Room at the Central Library in Marietta is closed on Sundays, and the hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays-Wednesdays, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays.
The Heritage Room at the Athens-Clarke Central Public Library will close Aug. 1 for repairs lasting 18 months. During the interim there will be limited local genealogy materials available during normal hours. www.clarke.public.lib.ga.us.
