Researching Historic Homes & Buildings: County Land Records

Wyoming State Archives maintains a variety of records from each county in Wyoming through the mid-1960s. To see a listing of available records click here. These records are available on mircofilm. If the microfilm is illegible, in most cases we do have the original books available.

Local County Clerk's Office, especially for information on homes built in the last 60 years.

Abstract of Title A condensed history or summary of all transactions affecting a particular tract of land.

Affidavit A sworn written statement made under oath before a notary public or other judicial officer.

Conveyance The legal process of transferring property from one owner to another

Deed A document through which a transfer of property is affected.

Grantee A person to whom a grant or conveyance is made

Grantor A person or institution making a grant or conveyance

Legal Description The Block, lot and addition (if applicable).

Lien A monetary charge imposed on a property, usually due to a debt.

Mortgage A conditioned pledge of property to a creditor as security for the payment of a debt.

Quit Claim Deed A deed not implying that the grantor holds title, but that surrenders and gives to the grantee any possible interest or rights that the grantor may have in the property.

Warranty Deed A document used to legally transfer property.

What documents should I begin with first?
If you know the legal description, start with the abstracts and then look at the deeds, mortgages, etc. 

What If I know the name of the owner? 
Start with the general grantee/grantor or direct/indirect index. From there, pull the deed and find a legal description then go to the abstract for more info on the property.

The County Clerk, County Treasurer and County Assessor maintain documents related to a particular property. These documents show transfers of ownership and are tied to property, not people. Different records you may come across include: Land Abstracts (like a table of contents or list of owners of the property), Deeds (including warranty deeds, quit claim, sheriff's deed, etc. These show transfer of the property), Mortgages (loans against the property), and Liens. In most cases, there are also indexes to the deeds and mortgages. For more detailed definitions of these terms, check out the Useful Terms section in the left column.

Land Abstracts: provide a chronology of transactions involving a property; who purchased, who sold, who mortgaged etc.

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Information included in land abstracts:

• Lots
• Grantor/Grantee
• Character of Instrument (type of document ie warranty deed)
• The county book and page(s) where the document is recorded
• The date of the instrument (document) and date the document was filed
• Consideration
• Assigned/Released
• Description/notes

Deeds: the sale record for when property changed hands/ownership

 Information found in a warranty deed:

• The full information that is summarized in the land abstract

Mortgages:

• Money borrowed against a property

Tax Assessment Rolls: records of taxes paid on a property, listed alphabetically by owner.

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Information you can find in tax assessment rolls:

• Names
• Residence
• School district in which property is located
  
• Section/part of section, township, range, acres, value
• Taxes paid
• Block and lot(s)
• Land value
• Livestock inventory
• Household goods inventory
• Financial inventory
• Household members
• Total valuation of property and land

The County Assessor is responsible for determining the taxable value of a property based on land value and imporovements to the property.  Information you can find in these rolls are similar to the Tax Assessment Rolls.