DELVE INTO CAMDEN COUNTY DEEDS
Historical Society Completes First Phase of New Deeds Index
CAMDEN, N.J. -- In a project of potentially great benefit to people researching their family genealogy or the history of their house, the Camden County Historical Society has completed a searchable index
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The 2,500 deeds, many of them not recorded anywhere else, filled 15 boxes in the Society's basement.
| of 2,500 local deeds. Dating from 1701 to 1934, with many written on vellum and sheepskin, the collection of documents is now accessible and searchable in the Society's library. Some items have not been recorded anywhere else.
A list of the 2,500 deeds can also be downloaded from the Society's web site at CCHSnj.com.
One-year project
The Camden County Deeds Database, completed by three CCHS volunteers over a one-year period under the supervision of library director Jocelyn Koehler, is the first stage of a digitization project that will eventually include 1000 additional deeds currently stored in the library's vault and catalogued in its card file.
Originally found in 15 boxes in the Society's basement, the deeds were carefully opened, flattened, examined, then preserved and filed according to archival standards. In some cases, this meant piecing together fragile documents that crumbled at the slightest touch. Volunteers Len Irwin, Joan Rossler and Shirley Evans were often surprised to find that the oldest deeds, handwritten on sheepskin and vellum, were in the best condition.
Geneaololgists and historians
The Deeds Database is searchable by sellers' and buyers' names, municipality or borough and year, and is key to investigating the Society's collection of land deeds. A valuable resource for genealogists and local historians, deeds can provide the names of neighbors; list the price and condition of the property; and, if the transfer of property is made within the family, may also note relationships and name changes over the years.
But more than that, according to Koehler, "looking at the deeds database as a whole lets you see immigration patterns into different areas of Camden County. The last names of buyers can sometimes show how different areas developed along different ethnic and cultural lines."
Women's Studies
Volunteer Rossler adds the database is also useful in women's studies. "You can see when it started to become culturally acceptable for women to be landowners in their own right, since many early deeds were filed under the man's full name followed by the generic notation and wife.'"
As valuable as it is, Koehler cautions that the Camden County Deeds Database is designed to be used in conjunction with other CCHS library resources. "Just because you don't find your family listed as landowners doesn't mean they didn't own property. And always remember, this is just one piece of the puzzle."
The Society is located behind Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, just across Route 130 from Collingswood. See map and directions.
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