I knew what a plat book was before I ever heard of the word genealogy. Like many farm families we always had the latest one and three or four old ones sitting somewhere on my Dad’s desk. The older editions of these books showing property owners throughout the county were always dog-eared from use. It was not long after I began my family history search that I realized these books were useful to the family historian.

What Is a Plat Book?
A plat book is a set of maps (usually for an entire county) that show the owners of farm property and the approximate acreages and shape of each parcel. These usually privately published books are frequently compiled from county property and tax records. Plat books such as the ones discussed this week are not government records and are not official documents or proof of land ownership. The plat books discussed in this week’s column are different from official plats and land surveys that may be recorded at the county recorder’s or assessor’s office. These official plats or surveys are usually drawn up by a surveyor and are made a part of the county’s records. Plat books are not usually guaranteed to be completely accurate.

And that accuracy brings us to an interesting observation. It has been reported that in some cases in the last several decades, intentional errors have been inserted into these privately published plat books. The rationale behind the errors is that anyone simply copying the book to resell it as their own will also recopy the errors and thus prove that the copyist did not compile an original work. How true this is I cannot say, however, we always noticed a few minor errors in a local plat book that never seemed to be corrected as new editions came out.

What Areas Have These Books?

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