Land Records
African Americans
1800 ~ 1870

Land records can reveal if a person owned or inherited land, where it was located and in some cases if the land had structures on it. These are sometimes difficult to research. Land records are usually found in each political district such as a county or parish. Some communities also have tax records which list who owned land and how much the taxes were on the property. This is sometimes a good way to locate a business owner, who must have had a lot, store, or specific location for a business. Early tax records do not list addresses, just names and amounts, but later records do reveal the location of the property.

            Another source that might help understand the place of occupation could be insurance maps. The Sandborn Insurance Company was one of several companies that maintained maps for most cities in the United States in the 1800s. Some of these maps include block by block drawings of each community with a drawing of the structures and information about type of building (brick or wood, one or multiple stories, etc) and sometimes the types of business conducted at the location. 

            Some of the maps are located in the county. Some are at the state archives, and some are on microfilm. 

To learn what may be available for an area, go to
 
go to Maps, Gazetteers and Geographic information 
and then click on the link to fire insurance maps.