Don’t Forget Deeds!

Have I mentioned I love deeds? Well, even if I have, it bears repeating. I LOVE deeds! As I’ve mentioned before I’m gathering information on the Hoover/Huber families of Lancaster County. I’m currently reviewing deed records for these families and abstracting them with the ultimate goal of creating a volume of Lancaster County Huber/Hoover family data.

You wouldn’t believe the amount of information in some of these deeds. True enough, some of the deeds are simply—so & so Hoover sold or bought from so & so x amount of land in xyz township, bounded as follows… But some of the deeds list the land transactions for that piece of property back to the original grant from the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, including references to the original patent (patent book, volume & page) and other deed transactions. They also name each owner and their wife and sometimes—as land was often transferred through families—children and their spouses. I’ve even come across deeds created during an estate settlement that include verbatim extractions from the will itself.

As I’ve been going through the deeds I’ve been keeping a list of persons and their locations, including their heirs as taken from the deed, and trying to make connections between persons. For some reason, I’ve become stuck for the moment on Christian Huber/Hoober/Hoover of Hempfield Township. One deed listed his heirs:^[1]

• Martin Hoover of Hempfield Township, wife Catharine
• Jacob Hoover of Brecknock Township, wife Anna
• Elizabeth (Hoover) Funk of Manor Township, husband Henry
• John Hoover of Hempfield Township
• Barbara Hoover
• Magdalena Hoover
• Anna Hoover
• Michael Hoover
• Christian Hoover Jr.

Later deeds reveal that Barbara Hoover married Christian Hoffman bet 1758 and 1764, Magdalena Hoover married John Hershey bet 1758 and 1767, and Anna Hoover married John Bossler (also Bassler, Basler, Bausler) between 1758 and 1769.^[2]  Michael and Christian Hoover Jr. both died after their father in their minority without issue. Other deeds showed that John Hoover married Anna (possibly Hershey) and was a miller. He was also likely the John Hoover Esq. who was the executor of the estate of Johannes Hoover of Manheim Township.^[3]

John Hoover Esq. and his wife Anna, according to his will, had children:

• Elizabeth Hoover, wife of Peter Baughman (also Bachman, Bauchman)
• Christian Hoover
• Mary Hoover, wife of Jacob Stehman

Another daughter, Ann Hoover wife of Christian Stehman, although not named in the will abstract, is named in a deed where the heirs sign a release for property in Manheim Township that John left his daughter Elizabeth and her husband Peter Baughman.^[4] If I’d hadn’t found this deed, I wouldn’t have known about Ann.

I’ve also had success tracing Peter Baughman’s ancestry and other relatives through deeds. His brother Christian died without issue and there are deeds that name his siblings, some of their children, and in a couple of cases grandchildren. Deeds also provided the name of the son-in-law of Peter’s sister Ann (Baughman) Bear. Want to guess? Ann’s daughter Catharine married a Christian Huber. Think there’s a connection back to Christian Hoover of Hempfield? I don’t know, but maybe the deeds will tell us…

So, don’t discount deeds. They can be a veritable gold mine of information, especially when use in conjunction with other sources. Have you learned something valuable by researching deeds? Please share.