How do I find out who was here on this land first?

Question

I want to find some information on the land I am living on. The house I am in, ect..ect..

I know that the cree indians were here first, but is there any way to know WHERE exactly they lived.

And how do I find out about the previous owners of this house I am living in.

Where do I start to look for this info?

Answer 1

Registry of Deeds in the county you're in will tell you all the owners of your land and house since they started recording such things.

Finding out when and where the Cree used your land is going to be considerably harder to do...

Answer 2

In the USA, most public libraries have "City Directories" from past years. City directories, in turn, have reverse listings, where people and their addresses are in address order, not alphabetical by last name. You didn't say where you were, but Crees are mostly found in Canada. Except for asking "Queen or beaver?" instead of "Heads or tails?" when you flip a five-cent coin, you folks are not THAT different from your southern neighbours. Librarians are generally more helpful than city clerks. I'd try there first.

The anthropology department at your local community college might be able to point you to an expert on the local pre-European history.

Answer 3

Ownership of the HOUSE is what title companies keep track of, as well as the deeds being kept at the county courthouse. These are indexed.. in grantor/grantee indexes.  The grantor is the seller, grantee is the buyer.. and indexes will be listed both ways.

Land is different.  Let me use a Texas county as an example.. it starts with nothing. As settlers come in, they either claim or were granted land from the govt.  The land grants are recorded in the Texas land office, and show on maps. So, maybe John Doe got 1000 acres of land, which was in what WAS Navarro county.  Later, Dallas county is created, taking part of Old Navarro, so now John's land "falls" into Dallas. Over years, all huge parcels of land get divided up. In most counties, you can find a map at the recorders office that shows WHERE those original parcels were. In many cases, you CAN compare the location of your land today..and see whose land grant was the original. For where I live currently.. the tax office online shows this location and imposes an outline of the original parcel.

Some usgenweb sites for counties offer lists of original settlers, and you can track down similiar maps.

As Ted points out.. we don't even know if you are in the US to begin with. Most states/counties here will have something like this, sometimes online, sometimes not. You might also talk to your local historical society.

Finding Native areas is a bit trickier. My understanding of this, is most Indian tribes didn't live with any concept of "owning" a parcel of land.  Land was usable by all persons, unless there was conflict, and warring tribes ran others off. With that in mind, you will not find any kind of documentation recorded.  That isn't to say that historians won't have knowledge that a certain tribe is known to have camped near this hill or along that creek. It will seldom be exact locations.

If you are in the US, and would like to send me a note, telling me something about the county you live in.. I may be able to find you some more explicit sites or records. My profile has my email open.