New York, Tioga, Land Records--Grantor/Grantee

kdbrimley

Instructions on this project say, "Please note that when there are 2 columns to a page, the grantor is often listed first in the first column, while the grantee is often listed first in the second column." However, in some batches I've seen (and in Sample 1 and Sample 3 of the instructions) the second column of names seems to be grantors and NOT grantees. The names match up alphabetically with the first column of names--the grantors. In the screen shot below (which is from Sample 3 in the instructions), we are told to index Platt Bennitt as the grantee (which is what the column header is). However, it really makes more sense that Platt Bennitt is the grantor (and all other names in that column are grantors). In this sample there are even 3-letter "hints" (BEN), in both columns of names, that suggest to the person filling out the form where to put their information. So, in summary, it seems that, in some cases in this project, the second column of names really are grantor/grantee sequence rather than grantee/grantor.

Please advise, and thank you!

slotbuddy

I know it seems that way and it IS rather confusing, but the directions ARE right. It is because at this point they are trying to capture the listing of the names of the grantees which would be alphabetically lost if you were trying to search for that person or company.

When this project is complete, you would want to be able to search for the record either by the grantee or the grantor and if we didn't capture each record both ways, you couldn't do that.

John Empoliti

Hi @kdbrimley

No, I believe those are exactly what the column headings say they are. in both columns/sides of the page, the Grantors are indeed Grantors and the Grantees are indeed Grantees.

Here is what I think is going on. Normally, when you see one of these "Index to Land Records - Grantors" or "Index to Land Records - Grantees" projects, the Grantors or Grantees term, respectively, indicates how/based on which party of the transaction (Grantor or Grantee), the records were sorted (alphabetically).

In this project, the first column/side of the page is sorted by Grantor, and the second column/side of the page is sorted by Grantee. The ledger is a "hybrid" and contains both types of information. If someone wants to find a particular transaction and they know the Grantor, they consult the left columns which are sorted alphabetically by Grantor, and ditto for Grantees, where they would consult the right columns, which are sorted alphabetically by Grantee.

So, maybe a more appropriate name for this project, "New York, Tioga County—Index to Land Records, Grantors, 1630–1975" would be something like the heading of your comment, "New York, Tioga County—Index to Land Records, Grantors/Grantees, 1630–1975"