The topic of this column, the first of a series that will appear in alternate issues of Ancestry, is a reminder that the records we often find most useful in searching for genealogical facts were created for other purposes. We use them for genealogical research but, strictly speaking, they're not genealogical records.

Records based on firsthand knowledge and created at or near the time of a relationship or event of interest are the most helpful, because they tend to be the most reliable. They are often called primary sources or evidence to distinguish them from documents written later or based on recopying secondhand knowledge, or conclusions.

In many cases, a record does not directly describe the relationship or happening for which we're searching, but will provide facts from which it can be inferred, sometimes by adding facts gleaned from other documents. To draw correct conclusions, you need some knowledge of how and why a document was created, and the meaning of specialized terms used in it.

Land records kept by states, counties, or towns were not made with the future genealogist in mind; nonetheless, they are among the most useful and reliable sources we have, particularly to identify spouses and sort out the identities of different people with the same name. Sometimes a single record will name members of several generations in a single family.

Land records can conveniently be considered in two broad classes, based on whether they were originally created to administer a tax system, or to provide evidence of land ownership and transfers.

Records made for tax purposes include assessment lists, which give names of property owners and the value of each property; and tax lists, which record the taxes actually due and/or paid. In the present United States, such lists were (and still are) kept almost everywhere for real estate, and in some jurisdictions for taxes on personal (moveable) property such as livestock, furniture, and equipment; or for head or poll taxes on individuals. Unfortunately, some weren't kept as permanent records, and others have been lost through accident.

Tax records seldom contain information bearing directly on family relationships; however, they are very useful in establishing when a family arrived in an area. They serve as partial census substitute, because the head of each land-owning household is named on land tax records, and all adult males are named on head tax lists, sometimes with ages to further distinguish individuals.

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