Jane Neuman 0 Report post Posted November 15, 2008 I have a g-g-grandfather who apparently was quite a land wheeler-dealer. I went to the courthouse expecting to find the purchase of the original family farm and found literally dozens of transactions and I'm not done yet. This must be where the family impression that he was "rich" comes from. My question to all of you authors out there is how should I handle this in my narrative? I have some transactions that are just quitclaim deeds, and quite a few properties where I can track both the purchase and sale of the same parcel. Sometimes he apparently bought distressed properties and had to pay back taxes, etc. I want to record the timeframes that he was buying properties because it helps place him and lets me know what he was up to. But, I think the regular sentences of "He bought land on [D]", etc would get pretty boring. Has anyone else confronted this issue? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Terry Reigel 0 Report post Posted November 16, 2008 When you have a lot of transactions entering each one seems like bore to me. I think the best thing to do is to gather them together is ways that make more interesting reading. For example, I've probably got approaching a hundred transactions for some of my wife's ancestors. To see how I dealt with that, see my narrative on Robert Cobb. For a less extreme example, see what I did with my grandfather, Frank Reigel. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jane Neuman 0 Report post Posted November 16, 2008 Thanks Terry. Those are great examples. I love how you wove together the land transactions with their other business interests. I probably have a similar situation, but I don't have all the details fleshed out yet. I appreciate your help. Jane Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Terry Reigel 0 Report post Posted November 16, 2008 You're welcome, Jane. I really like the effect, but it took a long time to get all the bits and pieces together to understand what was going on. It took me a couple of years to collect the deeds, and then days to piece together the information from them. I used not only land records but some other sources too. And in some cases the deeds of other parties helped, when they mentioned the use of adjacent parcels - especially when they told who the partners were at various points in time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites