SMCGS Databases: Early Land Records

One of the first databases posted on the SMCGS website was the Early Land Records Index.  This index, mainly compiled by Russ Brabec with a little help from Cath Trindle consists of nine volumes of early records.

The index includes:

• Patent   1-3 covering the years 1856-1921. Images of these volumes are available on FamilySearch  --  Land Patents were granted by the US Government on land they had acquired.  Most of the early patents in San Mateo County were verifying claims of those who had been given Spanish land grants.  Subsequent transfers of those original land patents are is made by deed.  It is possible to declare that the original patent has been transfered to an individual, which can give protections not necessarily transferred by deed.
• Record of Deeds   1-4 covering the years 1855-1866.   Images of these volumes are available on FamilySearch.  FamilySearch has images of deeds well beyond these initial 4 volumes as well as images of many of the indexes that were created over the years.  These are all browse only, but are not difficult to navigate and find the records you are looking for.
• Mortgages 1-2.  These records are available from the San Mateo Country Recorders Office.  These are just the first two of many Mortgage volumes available in the County Record Repository.  They can help provide a better picture of the worth of a property as amounts are often no included in the deeds.

Early Land Records Index

Images on FamilySearch

For other early land records of San Mateo County see

• Homesteads  Index Images
• Leases  Index
• Lis Pendens Index
• Sole Traders   Index Images
• Tax Sales Index to Sales by Tax Collector, Index to Sales, Executions and Certificates

More:

• Understanding Land Patents
• Bureau of Land Management - Land Patents  Original Surveys San Mateo County - includes Plat Maps and original patentees

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SMCGS Databases Online: Leases

So, you found your family in census records but you can't find a deed?  Maybe you haven't found them at all, although the family insists they were in San Mateo County before the turn of the century.

Perhaps they leased the property they farmed or the shop they ran rather, than owning the land or building. The newest addition to the SMCGS database collection is an Index to Leases from the beginning of the county through 1921.  The early leases were recorded in Miscellaneous books but by the 1870's dedicated lease books were used.  Occasionally leases were recorded in the Miscellaneous volumes after that date, and a few are found in the Deed books.  The lease books end with #9 as does the index we used as the basis for our index.  Most likely leases continued to be recorded in either Miscellaneous books or Official Records after that date.

Not every lease was recorded, and many were recorded sometime after they went into effect. Sometimes, there was a problem on one side with meeting the terms of the lease.  Other reasons might include: one of the parties assigning their rights to someone else, the surrender of the original lease, or the death of the lessor with the estate taking over.  Many properties were continuously leased by the administrators of estates and you will find copies of court permissions to lease said properties in the volumes indexed.  Be sure to check who asked for the lease to be recorded as that might give a clue as to the reason it was.

While many of the leases are short and give little information beyond the location of the property, and even that is sometimes missing, others are full of information.  The lease of a restaurant or hotel might include a full inventory of every item included in the lease, right down to salt and pepper shakers.  Farm leases might include buildings, equipment and livestock.  There might be already-sown fields that are not included or agreements that crops would belong to lessee even if the lease was terminated.

Some lucky researchers will find property maps and building plans. 

Some individuals can be followed from farm to farm, as they expand operations, change partners or move to a different area of the county.

There are a number of "mineral"  and "timber" leases, many of which were "assigned" (transferred to others) numerous times.  There are a few equipment leases. Besides a possible description of the equipment, terms often included restrictions on where the equipment could be used. 

Our index includes: Name of each party and their Role, the Date of the original lease and the Date it was recorded, Fee book number if given, Notes (description of property, location of additional records, etc.), record location (record set (book) Pages).  When a corporation or fraternal organization was one of the parties, the principals are included and identified by role, if the corporation or organization appeared to be based in San Mateo County.

Index to San Mateo County Leases 1856-1921   

SMCGS Database: Homesteads

Index to San Mateo County Homesteads Vol 1-4

We are all familiar with the Homestead Act of 1862 which helped populate the west by giving free land to those willing to settle and improve the land,  but that is not the basis for the Homestead Registers found in California.  

The California state archives gives the following description of the Homestead Registers in their collections: Homesteads Recorded declarations, and usually abandonments, of homestead indicating intent to use property as a place of residence. For declarations, contains name of homesteader, statements on marital status, residence on property, and intent to use property as a homestead, description and estimated value of land, date recorded, and signature of homesteader. Abandonments include statement of voluntary release of homestead rights, date of homestead, and signature of homesteader

Homestead Registers were the result of the approval of a "An Act to Exempt the Homestead from forced sale in certain cases" by the California State Legislature  on 21 April 1851.  The registers, however, do not appear to have been kept separately from other documents until the passage of an amendment to the original law on 28 Apr 1860.   

The San Mateo County registers start after that date as do those in the CA Archives collection.  Earlier declarations and abandonments would most likely be found in Miscellaneous Registers, Sole Trader Registers, or Deed Registers.

Basically the law gave a husband and/or wife (or a head of household) the right to declare, in writing, that a quantity of land with a dwelling house, on which they resided, was a homestead exemption from creditors.  The worth of the homestead could be no more than $5000. The declaration must be signed and recorded.  The 1860 amendment specified that husbands and wives were to be considered joint tenants of any homestead that either declared.

The law goes on to state that the exemption does not extended to any mechanic's, laborer's or vendor's lien which had been lawfully obtained or to any mortgage that was taken to purchase the homestead. Prior to an amendment approved on 12 May 1862 it was necessary to file an abandonment of homestead in order for a new lien, mortgage, etc. to be legal.  After that as long as all interested parties signed the new document the homestead was considered abandoned.


In 1860 the right to declare a residence a homestead was extended to all white residents regardless of whether they were married or head of a household.  The value of the homestead exemption allowed was set at $1000. The amount of land was set at 320 acres or if in city limits no more than 320 feet square.

California still allows homestead declarations. You can find many websites dealing with declaring a homestead today.  The following links are to background information on homestead legislation in California.

General Laws of the State of California, from 1850-1864 - Homesteads
Homestead Legislation in California

This index to San Mateo County Homestead filings covers the years 1860 through 1913.  Digital images of the recordings can be found on FamilySearch.  There are links to the online books at the beginning of the index.

Index to San Mateo County Homesteads Vol 1-4

SMCGS Databases Online: Lis Pendens

Lis Pendens filings for San Mateo County are found in drawers 53-56A in the County Record Repository. There are also eight registers located on shelves along the back wall.   This index to the original filings located in the drawers includes records dating  from the 1850s through the early 1900s. 

You will find records related to right of way such as that of the Ocean Shore Railway Co, foreclosures, and satisfaction of mechanic's liens among others.  Some state that they are an effort to quiet title, which means a suit is being brought to obtain a determination of the title of a certain piece of property.  These suits can involve property lines, probate problems and more.  While these documents can provide great information for your family research, they are also interesting in and of themselves. They come in all colors and on various types of paper including oil cloth.  Some are handwritten.  Some are fill in forms.  Others have been specially printed in their entirety.  

Lis Pendens Index

lis pendens - The People's Law Dictionary

(lease pen-dense) n. Latin for "a suit pending," a written notice that a lawsuit has been filed which concerns the title to real property or some interest in that real property. The lis pendens (or notice of pending action) is filed with the clerk of the court, certified that it has been filed, and then recorded with the County Recorder. This gives notice to the defendant who owns real estate that there is a claim on the property, and the recording informs the general public (and particularly anyone interested in buying or financing the property) that there is this potential claim against it. The lis pendens must include a legal description of the real property, and the lawsuit must involve the property. Otherwise, if there is a petition to remove the lis pendens from real property not involved in the lawsuit, the plaintiff who originally recorded a false lis pendens will be subject to payment of attorney's fees as a penalty. 

Code of Civil Procedure
Lis Pendens - What it is and how it affects title 

SMCGS Databases Online: Tax Sales and More

This month two new indexes have been added to the SMCGS website.

The first is Certificates of Sale, Executions and Attachments.  It is an index to documents held in drawers 19 through 24 covering the years 1856 thru 1929 in the San Mateo County Record Repository.  The documents include:

• Sheriff's Certificate of Sale names include sheriff and purchaser of land (p) and if found name of original land owner (o) a plaintiff is also often listed as in the case of a lawsuit the land is sold to satisfy it.  In a tax delinquency the plaintiff is the people.
• Sheriff's Certificate of Sale on Foreclosure - specific to mortgage holders.
• Sheriff's Certificate of Redemption
• Copy of Writ of Attachment is a court order to "attach" or seize an asset. It is issued by a court to a law enforcement officer or sheriff. The writ of attachment is issued in order to satisfy a judgment issued by the court.
• Copy Writ of Execution is a court order granted to put in force a judgment of possession obtained by a plaintiff from a court.[1] When issuing a writ of execution, a court typically will order a sheriff or other similar official to take possession of property owned by a judgment debtor. Such property will often then be sold in a sheriff's sale and the proceeds remunerated to the plaintiff in partial or full satisfaction of the judgment.
• Release of Attachment
• Sale on Execution  - a sale of property by the sheriff under authority of a court's writ of execution in order satisfy an unpaid obligation
• Constable's Sale - Sold at township rather than county level
• Sale by City Treasurer - Usually for non-payment of improvement bonds.  Most of these sales were redeemed.
• Conveyance of Real Estate for Delinquent Taxes.

 Check the about page for lists of County Sheriff's, County Recorders and City Treasurers.

The second index is to Sales by the County Tax Collector for the years 1857 to 1894.  Some of the sales are recorded in Sheriff's Tax Certificate Books A-G.  Certificates are located in drawers 25-34. Some certificates for sales to the People of the State of California were not found.  A few other certificates are also missing from the drawers.  Information includes owner, purchaser, a description of the land and whether the land has been redeemed. 

It is apparent from the large number of "sales" to a few men, that they did not for the most part intend to buy this land.  Instead they were the "money lenders" who would pay the taxes and then collect interest until the land was redeemed.  By following the records you get a picture of who was living on the edge, checking the date of the sale and the redemption gives you an idea of how long it look to pay the bill.  For some individuals this was an annual process and they paid back within the year.  Others missed their payments for a few years.  They might eventually redeem the land after three or four years.  For others this was a final sale and they left the land.

You can order these records from the County Recorders Office.  Be sure to give them a description of what you are looking for and its exact location as these records are very infrequently accessed and they are not likely to be familiar with them.