The Fair Haven Deeds Project

Index to Cayuga County Deeds filed at the Cayuga County Clerk’s Office.

Project Status

Ledger A 1795 to 1801 – Index to Grantees purchasing property
Ledger A 1795 to 1801 – Index to Grantors selling property

Next Step:  Continue to transcribe Ledgers B through ZZ. Let us know if you’d like to volunteer. info@FHHistory.Org

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The History Of Your House

Are you interested in the history of your house in Fair Haven? Your property in Fair Haven was once owned by a Revolutionary War veteran. Do you know which one? What do you know about where your ancestors once lived?

The first deeds issued for property in Fair Haven date from 1795 when the last lots were added to the Military Tract to fulfill bounty land promised to Revolutionary War soldiers. For the next 100 years the indexes to these deeds were in handwritten in ledgers.

Why This Project Is Important

Once completed, this index will be a permanent and valuable research tool for everyone. Deeds contain a great deal of history. A timeline emerges, not only for individuals, but for the Village overall. Relationships are revealed; names of wives, other relations and business partners are often mentioned. In addition, this information provides clues as to what related records should also be researched. It fills out a time-frame for a larger picture of the history of Fair Haven.

Two Ways To Help

Volunteer to transcribe records. Learn how to locate and read the Grantor and Grantee names from the handwritten ledgers.

 

If you don’t have time to volunteer, you can help by donating funds that will allow a professional typist to help move the project along. The fund raising goal of $2,800 will go a long way toward getting the first 20,000 records completed.

The First Step

As work on the index proceeds, you will see the results here on the website. Though learning to read each clerk’s handwriting can be challenging, there are ways to verify the data. The ledgers to be transcribed are in three formats, some requiring more time consuming scrutiny than others.  Collectively, we will try to create as complete an index as possible.

Stage 2

The second phase of this project will be to use the index to locate deeds of interest and see what information they contain. This data will be made available in an organized, searchable format connecting people, places and events. This historical information can then be incorporated into other projects, stories and historical accounts.

Stage 3

Additional documents can also be placed in the index.  Mortgages, estate probate records, and many other types of documents contain dates, names, places and events. Tying these things together in one place allows for collaborative research.

Example

Years in this Ledger		Grantor LName	Grantor FName	Grantee LName	Grantee FName	Lot	Acres	Ledger	Page	Notes
1811	1812	Cooley	Samuel and others	Wigton	William	2	1/2 of 600	L	218
1811	1812	White	Shadrack	Turner	John	24	140	L	250	John Turner
1811	1812	Pratt	James	Rowe	Robert	19	50	L	395
1811	1812	Rowe	Robert	Morris	Reuben S.	19	50	L	397
1811	1812	Himer	Charles H.	Van Petten	Peter	35	50	M	14
1811	1812	Hume	Charles H.	Jacobson	Volkert	35	100	M	15
1811	1812	Hartwick	John	Van Petten	Peter	35	100	M	16
1811	1812	Hentwick	Henry	Van Petten	Peter	35	100	M	17
1811	1812	Himer	Charles H.	Van Petten	Peter	35	100	M	18
1811	1812	Childs	Noadiah and Wife	Golden	David V. W. and John Mire	63	100	M	24
1811	1812	Miu	John	Golden	David Ville	63	100	M	25
1811	1812	Mc Kinley	Archibald	Hunt	Abijah	23	200	M	219	Hunt Hotel on Hunt’s Point
1811	1812	Dunlap	Catherine	Stewart	John	43	200	M	287
1811	1812	Dunlap	William and Others	Dunlap	Catherine	43	200	M	288
1811	1812	Woliot	Giles	Vernon	John	–	100	M	431
1811	1812	Walton	Abraham	Walton	Charles	61	600	M	449
1811	1812	Mumford	Thomas	Ellis	Gideon	99	50	M	458
1811	1812	Fish	Nathan	Ellis	Gideon	55	100	M	458
1811	1812	Morris	Reuben S.	Mumford	Silas D.	19	50	M	526
1811	1812	Moulton	William	Brown	John W.	82	90	M	552
1811	1812	Moulton	William	Miner	Hannah	82	90	M	552