Continuing his efforts to bring the Registry of Deeds directly to the citizens of Norfolk County, Register of Deeds William P. O’Donnell made a guest appearance at the Sharon Public Library on November 30th.
Register O’Donnell spent the appearance conducting a hands on, step by step historical land document research demonstration, using the Registry’s state-of-the-art computer system to trace a particular Sharon residence from the current day back to the mid-1800’s. This effort was expedited using the Registry’s recently concluded transcription project and index merge efforts to more easily research and read hand written land documents that were recorded at the Registry between the years 1793-1900.
Register O’Donnell noted, “The Norfolk County Registry of Deeds has always had available online via its website, www.norfolkdeeds.org a scanned image of all original land documents dating back to the Registry’s beginnings in 1793. The transcription project was an effort undertaken by the Registry and its partner to transcribe hard to read images of handwritten land documents dating from 1793 to 1900. A companion project was the land document index merge which allowed us to trace documents by name back to the founding of the Registry of Deeds in 1793. Previously, while all scanned images of land documents were available online, we could only trace a document by a person’s name back to 1900. The research demonstration we undertook with the Sharon property showed clearly the benefits of transcribing the hard to read documents and the index merge. The results of these projects allowed us to complete the Sharon land document research effort in a much more expeditious manner.”
Concluding his remarks, Register O’Donnell stated, “I want to thank Sharon Public Library director Lee Ann Amend and the entire staff at the library for their courtesy in allowing the Registry to spend time conducting a hands-on demonstration of our land document research capabilities.”
To learn more about these and other Registry of Deeds events and initiatives, like us at facebook.com/NorfolkDeeds or follow us on twitter.com/NorfolkDeeds and Instagram.com/NorfolkDeeds.
The Norfolk County Registry of Deeds is located at 649 High Street in Dedham. The Registry is a resource for homeowners, title examiners, mortgage lenders, municipalities and others with a need for secure, accurate, accessible land record information. All land record research information can be found on the Registry’s website www.norfolkdeeds.org. Residents in need of assistance can contact the Registry of Deeds Customer Service Center via telephone at (781) 461-6101, or email us at registerodonnell@norfolkdeeds.org.
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