Land records are a valuable resource often overlooked by genealogists. Perhaps that is because the system of keeping land records is complex, designed for doing title searches and not for researching family history. Richard Howe will untangle Massachusetts land records, explaining how they were organized from the seventeenth century until today and providing helpful hints on how to find your ancestors’ land ownership records.

Richard P. Howe Jr. is the Register of Deeds of the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds in Lowell and is the past president of the Massachusetts Registers of Deeds Association. He is a graduate of Providence College and Suffolk University Law School, holds an MA in History from Salem State University, and has been a member of the Massachusetts Bar for more than thirty years. Mr. Howe is the creator of richardhowe.com, a widely read blog about Lowell history and politics, and of Lowell Walks, a popular year-round program of guided walking tours. He is the author of Lowell: Images of Modern America and co-author of Legendary Locals of Lowell, both from Arcadia Publishing.