Chapter 15. Timeline
Part 2. Reading your report.
The timeline gathers every dated record in the report in order.
What it says. At the top, under the heading "The land in ten dates," the ten dates that best tell the land's story; at Full, every dated record about your land; at Deep, nearby records too.
What to notice. Look for the gaps. A gap of fifty years between a patent and the next record is not a mistake; it is where the county's deed books, the census and the newspapers come in. A gap in the timeline is a finding.
In the sample report
The sample's ten dates run from Murphy's survey of 1854 and the plat of May 1, 1855, through Hutchinson's claim survey of August 1855 and the claim plat of 1861, to the two patents of June 14, 1877. After that come only later surveys: 1896, 1935, 1979 and 2023.1 Who owned the land after 1877 is a question for the county clerk's deed books, the first step in "If you're hooked."
Notes
- The sample report, "The land in ten dates," from BLM Oregon land records and General Land Office Records. ↩