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Land and property records can place an ancestor in a particular location, give important economic information and sometimes even reveal family relationships. Land records may include deeds, mortgages, leases, grants and patents. Some New York land records are held and indexed in state records. See New York Land and Property wiki pages for more about land records in New York.

County land records are generally deeds, mortgages and leases. Deeds are found in the county courthouse beginning as early as 1683 (or the inception date of new counties, but registration of deeds was not required until 1810. When a new county was formed, deeds and other land records were copied and sent to the newly-made county. Some early records may be found in towns, but typically only in Long Island towns.

Groups of large land purchasers were speculators who sold to private individuals. Sometimes these records are found in county records, but they may be incomplete. The records generated by the land companies often included deeds, leases and mortgages for tenants who bought land on time. Often deeds were not issued until full payment for the land was received.

Copies, abstracts and indexes to deeds may be found in