LHC Genealogy Group at Registry

Thu, 04/03/2008 - 02:40 — Barbara Brown

Saturday, March 29, 2008, was a special day for the LHC Genalogy Group. Robert Kelley, Registrar of the Northern Essex Registry of Deeds located at 354 Merrimack Street - Lawrence, MA., hosted the group for a special Saturday opening of the Registry. With coffee and doughnuts, members were given a tour and an overview of material contained there. They were able to research deeds and obtain copies. Mr. Kelley and several staff members assisted the group with their research requests.

The Genealogy Group was delighted with the surprises and long sought answers they found. They were very grateful to Mr. Kelley and his fine staff for the information and enthusiastic help they provided.

The Registry of Deeds is a recording office of all land transactions in Northern Essex County including Andover, Lawrence, Methuen and North Andover. They are also a research library for recorded land transactions. The records date back to 1869.

View the Registry's web site at:
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/rod/rodnrthessex/nrthessexidx.htm

Below is a picture of the Registry just after it moved into it's new quarters in 1953... Click for high-resolution image

Comments

Mon, 04/07/2008 - 17:23 — Barbara Brown

Anne Marie Kopacz Meile comments on visit

Thank you all so much. I had a great time at the Essex County Registry of Deeds on Saturday, March 28th. Mr. Kelley and his staff were so welcoming and helpful. A man named Mark taught me how to use the computers and log books in just a few minutes. He and other staff members helped walk us through our individual searches on the history of our houses.
I was able to trace my own home of 35 years back through previous owners to the year 1890; and my great-grand parents' home of 36 years back to the year 1912 when Henry Schneider and Clara Schneider bought the land for $1 and 'other valuable considerations'. The documents show they then took out a mortgage of $2000 to build a home on the new land for their family.
At that time, the family included their six living children; ranging from their 16 year old son, Herman, who would later become my grandfather to the youngest of their five girls, a 3 year old named Clara. For a time, I believe my gg-grandfather, Andreus also lived with them, but later he may have moved to California.
The workshop was all so interesting and even the beautiful penmanship in the older log books was something exceptional. We all made good use of the unique shelves with rollers that helped make it easier to retrieve and replace the very heavy books. Mark was even able to find the original plot plan for my great-grandfather's land which showed how he put two lots together to construct his property. My Mom is anxious to share all this new info with her brother in California.
I really enjoyed the time the team gave us and would like to learn more from them about deeds and liens and how all the property documents affect home purchases as processed at the Registry. Thank you all again for planning this workshop for our genealogy group; I am sure we all learned a lot in those few hours.
Sincerely,
AnnMarie (Kopacz) Meile