Land Record Research
DHAS Resources
Bristol County Land Record Abstracts of Dan Taber
Third-Party Resources
Tracing land ownership back in time can be as simple as tracking land transaction records at the Registry of Deeds in New Bedford. However, the further back in time you go the greater the odds you will come to a dead end. That's when the fun starts! In the 17 and 1800's, much of the land was kept in families for generations. So when you find someone selling land but can't find who they bought it from, most likely they inherited the land from a family member. To advance the search you need to expand the effort into genealogy. Who are the family members? You may have to go back two or more generations. Are there Wills or Probate records? The search can take on a much larger scope.
Following are some places and tips to start your search.
The most comprehensive online set of land records are found here. For Dartmouth, choose Bristol county.
Although these records are complete, it is somewhat difficult to insure you find all the records you are looking for. Here is a tutorial on using these online records.
Since the online records are microfilmed copies of actual book volumes, the image numbers do not represent the book page numbers. To aid in the name search, the following indexes have been created.
Please Note, these image indexes are the primary indexes for Dartmouth. Many of the other microfilmed indexes are for other towns but may contain a few random Dartmouth records.
Wills and probate records are available online with a subscription to Ancestry.com. However, the records are incomplete as stated on their site. The actual wills and probate records for Bristol County are located in Taunton Probate Court in the Trial Court building on Broadway Street. You can access and research the historic books yourself.
Census records are a big help in establishing family locations also.
For old maps, go to the map room.
Old tax records are archived at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Contact 508-997-0046.