NORWOOD HISTORICAL SOCIETY

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HOW TO USE DEED RECORDS

This information is for historic research only.

Using the subdivision and plat maps pages on this web site:

After determining the subdivision on the [SUBDIVISION] page, click on the subdivision name to link to an image of the plat map from the Hamilton County Recorder's website. (Note that some names are instead links to a page on this site devoted to a subdivision or a related set of subdivision with links to the subdivision plat map(s) on that page. Eventually, all subdivisions will have their own web page.)
After the subdivision name will be a set of numbers, eg. [11/29]. That is short for plat book 11, page number 29, which is the actual location of the map in the Recorder's books. These numbers are needed to find the plat map in the original documents at the Recorder's office. The dates immediately after the subdivision name are dates for plat creation, record and other dates listed on the plat document. This will give you an idea of when the subdivision was created.

Click here for plat books & maps before April 2003 and here for other documents
For old deed books go to http://familysearch.org/search/collection/2141016

For Series Index Books:
1st(1789-1859) 2nd (1859-1871) 3rd (1871-1886) 4th (1886-1903) 5th (1903-1918) 6th (1918-1927) 7th (1927-1939)

Hamilton County Recorder's Series Index Page with links to above list and individual pages of each Series Index Book
(Note: The 8th Series Index Book, which points to the 8th Series Deed & Mortgage Index Books, is online in a query searchable format and the 8th Series Deed & Mortgage Index Books are online in image format.)

Other links:
Hamilton County Recorder's Township Maps with Subdivision Information

DEED & MORTGAGE INDEX

The Deed/Mortgage Index Books contain the lists of Grantors & Grantees (Sellers and Buyers) and Mortgagors & Mortgagees of property within this subdivision. The Deed Book and page within that book is also given. Using that information, the deed record for that transaction can be found.

There are eight series, and therefore eight indexes for various years. For the current Series 8, go to the Hamilton County Recorder's website, where there are several methods of searching. Below is a way of searching the Series 8 documents to get information on a property. Series 1-7 indexes and deeds are on the familysearch.org website.

How to get the historical land records of a property in Norwood using the 8th Series documents. (If you have the subdivision and lot information from your mortgage or other property records, you can skip to Step 2.)

Step 1: Get the name of the subdivision and the lot number of the property
- Method One For Getting Plat Lot Information
  - Go to the subdivision page on this website, determine which subdivision is correct and click on the plat book number/page. This will download the subdivision's plat map. (Note: There may be several subdivisons with similar names.)
  - Locate the lot on the map and record the subdivision name and lot number. (Note: Some of the on-line maps are faint, so you may have to go to Method Two)
- Method Two For Getting Plat Lot Information
  - Go to the Hamilton County Auditor's website
  - Click on the [Property Search] tool.
  - Find the specific property, by searching by [Parcel ID], [Owner], [Street Address], [Sales] or [Advanced]. [Owner] or [Street Address], which is the default, will probably be the most useful for this type of search. (Note: Some searches may result in several property listings, so you will have to select the correct one and click on it.)
  - From the resulting property's "Parcel Summary" page, under "Property Information," will be the street address, parcel size, lot number(s) and the subdivision name. Record the subdivision name and lot number(s).
Step 2: Get Index information from Series 8 (the current series)
- Go to Hamilton County Recorder's website
  - Click on [Documents On File] and under the list click [Subdivisions]
  - On the Subdivisions page click on click here
  - On the TERMS OF USE PAGE click on the [I Agree] button.
  - This will bring up the "land search" page. Under the [unregistered land] box, click on "Subdivision/Lot"
  - This will bring up the"Unregistered Land: Subdivision/Lot" search page
  - In the box [Subdivision Name Starts With:], type in the first letter(s) of the subdivision name (e.g. ARNOLD) and press "Enter" on your keyboard or click the [Go] button at the bottom of the box. (Hint: if you want to change the name you typed, click the [Clear] button next to the [Go] button.)
  - The [Subdivision] box should now change from "-- No Subdivisions--" to "-- Select --", if there are more than one subdivision with similiar names. Otherwise, just one name will be displayed. If it remains "-- No Subdivision --";, you typed the partial subdivision name incorrectly - clear and try again.
  - Click on the [Subdivision] box. Several different subdivision name may appear. Select the correct subdivision out of the list (e.g. ARNOLD WILBER E. SUB NORWOOD).
  - The [Lot] box will now change from "-- No Lots --" to "-- Select --". Click on it.
  - A list of lot numbers will be displayed. Click on the one you want.
  - Click [Go]. Note: If you wanted to see all lots displayed, don't click on the [Lot] box (keep it at "-- select --"), but click [Go].
  - Now the "Geographic Index" page with a list of documents for that lot(s) will be displayed. The Deed Book/Page and the 8th Series' Index Book/Page will be clickable. Also, the type of document (Deed, Release, Mortgage, Affidavit or Assignment) will be listed.
  - Click on a Book/Page link to get document details.
  - On this Document Detail page is also a link to the actual document image. Click on [View Image] to display the document. (Note: There is a disclaimer, that the "Search results contain data after August 1988 only. Book / Page is the official record." So you may have to go to the recorder's office to look at the official record.)

How to get the historical land records of a property in Norwood using the 1st-7th Series documents. (If you have the subdivision and lot information from your mortgage or other property records or from your 8th Series search, you can skip to Step 2.)

Step 1: Get the name of the subdivision and the lot number of the property
- Method One For Getting Plat Lot Information
  - Go to the subdivision page on this website, determine which subdivision is correct and click on the plat book number/page. This will download the subdivision's plat map. (Note: There may be several subdivisons with similar names.)
  - Locate the lot on the map and record the subdivision name and lot number. (Note: Some of the on-line maps are faint, so you may have to go to Method Two)
- Method Two For Getting Plat Lot Information
  - Go to the Hamilton County Auditor's website
  - Click on the [Property Search] tool.
  - Find the specific property, by searching by [Parcel ID], [Owner], [Street Address], [Sales] or [Advanced]. [Owner] or [Street Address], which is the default, will probably be the most useful for this type of search. (Note: Some searches may result in several property listings, so you will have to select the correct one and click on it.)
  - From the resulting property's "Parcel Summary" page, under "Property Information," will be the street address, parcel size, lot number(s) and the subdivision name. Record the subdivision name and lot number(s).
Step 2: Get Index information from Series 7
- Go to the FamilySearch website's "Ohio, Hamilton County reords, 1791-1994" page
  - Under "View Images in this Collection" click Browse through 1,470,416 images"
  - Under "Record Category," click "Land and property records
    Instead of using an electronic search, like we did for the 8th Series, we will need to look at the Deed and Mortgage Series 7 index.
  - On the "Land and property records" page, scroll down to you see the Deed and mortgage series 1 through 7 indexes. Ignore the "Deed and mortgage index (series X), vol XX, year range" listings for now.
  - Click on the Deed and mortgage series 7 index, 1927-1938 listing. A page marked
    
    HAMILTON COUNTY RECORDER
    JOHN E HELD RECORDER
    7TH
    SERIES INDEX
    DATE 3 23 88
    SHOT BY DS
    
    should appear on your screen. You can download this file for viewing off-line or use it on-line.
    Since we don't know on what page the Albers & Kahle Subdivsion is, we will have to guess. The series indexes are organized alphabetically, so Albers & Kahle should be close to the front. Let's move through the document, a page at a time.
  - Above the document, there is box with the number 1 in it, the word "Image" to the left and "of 150" and an arrow on the right. Either type in a new page number to replace the "1" or click on the arrow to move to the next page.
  - We lucked out! Albers & Kahle is on page 2. Notice that there are two subdivision in with this name. We are interested in the 1st, or as it is identified, Albers & Kahle Addition to Norwood.
    Note: The image can be adjusted with controls. On the left are "+" (Zoom In), "-" (Zoom out) and "[ ]" Toggle full screen controls. On the right are "Print," "Download" and "Tools" icons. The Tools has controls to rotate the image, adjust the brightness and contrast and invert the image. You can move the image around by putting your mouse pointer on the image and move it while holding down the left mouse button.
  - To the right of the subdivision list are four columns. The 3rd and 4th columns contain the Plat Book and page numbers, in this case 11/29. The first tow columns have the Index Book and page numbers — 72/238.
    A more efficient way may be to use the Series Indexes on Hamilton County Series Indices page. Besides having the same full indexes, they are also broken down into smaller sections with each section contain one letter of the alphabet.
  - We need to return to the "Land and property records" page. At the top of the web page, click on the "Land and property records
  - Now scroll down the listings, and click on Deed and mortgage index (series 7), vol 72, 1927-1938
    Now just like in the Series 7 index, we need to go to a specific page - 238. This is too far into the document to move a page at a time and unfortunately, there are so exact correlation between the page we want and the image page number, so we will have to search.
  - To start, lets type 238 in the Image page box and see how close we are. Okay, that brings up page 224, which is 14 less than what we need. So let's add that to our original number giving 252. BINGO! That worked this time, but sometimes it can take several tries to get to the right page.

An example of using the indexes.

In the 7th Series Deed and Mortgage Index Book Number 72, Page 238 is a list of deeds recorded for Albers & Kahle's 1st Subdivision of lots 1 to 24 in 1927-1931. The first entry is for January 5, 1927 (see below).

More deed listings for lots 1-24 of this subdivision are recorded on page 240 and 240-A. Mortgage listing are on page 239, 240. Listings for deeds and mortgages for lots 25-34 continue on pages 242 and 243. Listings for lots 35-44 are on pages 244-245 and lots 45-57 on pages 246-247. (Because there are pages, usually blank, with an "-A' after the page number, the document page numbers and the image numbers become even more apart.)

GRANTOR	GRANTEE	BOOK	PAGE	Lot No.	DESCRIPTION
Stagge, Bernard J. 1/5/27	John H. Stagge	1406	442		Und. 1/2 Lot 1 Less Exception

This is wrong and is marked "ERROR SEE PAGE 248." We have to type in 268 in the Image Box to get to page 248. This is the first page for Albers and Kahle's 2nd Subdivision of South Norwood, so apparently a property transfer in this 2nd Subdivision was erroneously recorded in the 1st Subdivision. Notice that the record below, which is in the 2nd Subdivision listing, is the same as that above., It was just listed in the wrong subdivision!

GRANTOR	GRANTEE	BOOK	PAGE	Lot No.	DESCRIPTION
Stagge, Bernard J.	John H. Stagge	1406	442		Und. 1/2 Lot 1 Less Exception

The Deed Record for this property transfer is recorded in Deed Book 1406 on page 442. Now, if we go back to "Land and property records page, we can look for Deed Book 1406. Unfortunately, the familysearch Deed Books stop at volume 854. So, we need to go to the Hamilton County Recorder's Office.

Deed Books, Volume 477-854 (1877-1901), can be found at familysearch.org website's
"Land & Property Records of Hamilton County" pages

Note that the GRANTOR is last name/first name, while the GRANTEE is first name/last name.

If we do the same technique in the 6th Series, we get the following: Albers and Kahle Sub. 1st, Add. to Norwood ... Index Book 15, page 244 (which is image 265 in Index Book 15). One of the listings is show below.

GRANTOR	GRANTEE	BOOK	PAGE	DESCRIPTION
Kleine Fred W. 4/28/-	Wm. H. Sullivan	164	563	Lease 5 Yrs. East part of Lot 4 - 2087 and 2089 Sherman Ave.

Again we can't get this on-line. The Lease books only go up to volume 122, 1901-1902, on the familysearch website.

Trying on the 4th Series Index, we get the following: Albers and Kahle Sub. 1st, Add. to Norwood ... Index Book 42, page 380 (which is image 155!). One of the listings is show below.

GRANTOR	GRANTEE	BOOK	PAGE	DESCRIPTION
Smith, Benj. F.	Albers & Kahle	721	268	Lots 4, 24, 25.

On the familysearch website, we go to Deed Book No. 721, page 268-270 (images 269-271), and find the deed record where, on November 7, 1891, Benjamin F. and Margaret M. Smith sell to George F. Albers and Henry W. Kahle, Lots Nos. 4, 24 and 25 in the Albers & Kahle's Addition to Norwood as recorded in Plat Book No. 11, Page 29. The deed was received for record November 10, 1891 at 8:40 a.m. The Notary Public was Philip Moessinger.

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