Everyone who has purchased a home has probably received a stack of documents with legal descriptions of their property. But have you ever attempted to read them?

And if you have, since they are for the most part written in legalese, you may not have understood what they were about. So we will begin at the beginning. This week is a history lesson.

In the 18th century the public lands of the United States consisted of all the land acquired from the American Indian tribes.

From 1785 to 1820, Congress first used the land to raise money to operate the federal government by selling it. Also, some of the land was used for further approved projects.

The second use of the land was designated for public education. Congress legislated that one square mile of each 36 square mile township should be dedicated to support public education. Section 16 was to be used for a school and later it was doubled to Section 16 and 36.

The schools were not especially built on theses sections but the proceeds of those sections would be used to support the school.

A third type of land grant was made to American veterans of past wars as a sort of old age pension. These were the wars fought between 1800 to 1860, which would include the War of 1812.

The fourth and largest type of land grant was in the 19th and 20th century for the purpose of homesteading. It provided the settlers with land for five years without charge and at the end of the five years, improvements were to be made such as the tilling of the land and a small house built on the property.

If you look at the beginning of your property abstract, you can read the land grant pages which were signed by the president of the United States.

So in a nutshell, a land grant is a gift of real estate made by the government as a reward to an individual in return for military service. Grants were also given to individuals and companies as incentives to develop unused land.

During the 19th century, land was set aside for land-grant universities, land-grant railroads, land-grant old age pensions and land-grant homesteads for farmers. During the 19th century, four out of five railroads were built using land grant incentives.

A property abstract is a collection of legal documents which records what has happened to the property over time.

It includes references to deeds, mortgages, wills, probate records, court litigation’s and tax sales. It will show the names of all property owners and how long the holder owned the land and the price of the land.

An Abstract of Title is a condensed version of the ownership of the particular parcel of real estate. A deed is a legal document that confirms or transfers interest or right of ownership to an asset from one person to another. All copies of deeds are kept in the registrar of deeds office in county courthouses and are available for public viewing.

What information do these documents provide? They can tell you who owned the land over the years and if you look closely you can approximate the time that a house was built on the land because the value of the land changed. The papers do not tell you when a building was put on the land but the value changes and gives a clue.

The abstract of title demonstrates when the property changed hands, whether or not there are claims or liens on the title that could cloud the title and what kind of easements may restrict the use of the land.

In addition, it indicates which rights have been transferred or sold. For example, timber or mineral rights may not be automatically granted with the title. Essentially, the abstract of title provides complete information about where the property stands so that people can determine whether or not there may be problems with the title. Now when you have nothing to do, get that abstract of title out and look it over.

It is a clue to who lived in your house before you. You are a part of the history of your property.