Your day in Court(house)!
Have you ever had the occasion to visit the courthouse in the county where you? By "courthouse", I mean the county building which houses your "County Clerk's Office". (The name varies by state; sometimes called the Recorder's Office, of Hall of Records, etc.) And there is SO much information there!
Anyone who has done any title work in Texas knows that it is next to impossible to find all the info you need without the help of a title company. During the 1980s, at the height of the oil-boom for that period, title companies in many parts of Texas were charging $100 AN HOUR for the privilege of using their records. They rented out chairs in their vaults, and you just waited until one of the 6-10 chairs were vacant.
Interesting: The families of Texans who gave their lives at the Alamo, where granted large ranches, and those deeds are recorded. This was all back when Texas was a republic, prior to statehood. Some legal (land) 
descriptions for ranches in the 1800s were described as this: "Beginning at the large oak tree near the south branch of Smith Creek, light a cigarette and ride due east until the cigarette is extinguished. Then ride due south, to the buggy axle which is buried at the base of the rock outcropping near a large pecan tree..."
If you've never set foot in the Clerk's Office, the next time you have an hour and the inclination, do it. Visit them and ask for the basic "Grand Tour" which will take all of 3 minutes.
One thing that I've found extremely interesting is looking at the very oldest of their records. Sales that were made in the 1700s or 1800s. The calligraphy of the day is impressive (obviously, everything was done by hand.) In Louisiana, the standard way back then was to charge $1.00 per hundred words if you wanted a copy of a recorded document. That was because to get a copy of the deed to your property in 1910, a clerk literally had to write it out for you.
I found a Clerk's office in eastern Louisiana that still was charging that rate in the 1980s, even though they had a copy machine. And, as you can imagine, deeds have just become longer and longer. They would charge $20-$30 to make you a Xerox copy of a 10 page document! And you could pay it, or write out a copy yourself. What options!
I lived in Boston for a few years and it was pretty neat to look at deeds for property that were parts of our history. Bunker Hill. Beacon Hill. The houses 
that our founding fathers occupied. The Warren Tavern in Charlestown. Harvard.
But, I enjoy reading older deeds for farms and ranches, best. The sale could include "All crops, as laid, 4 dairy cows, 11 horses, and one cattle dog (breed unknown)".
And in the southern states, references to the sales of human beings were not disguised. Field hands were listed right along with the other inventory. A sad, but real part of history.
Anyway, enough of the ramble. If you've not, you might want to give it a try!
Phil
Phillip Anderson
Owner
New Portland Home
A real estate services company
(503) 789-8701 Direct
www.NewPortlandHome.com
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