I have two questions to which readers might respond. I do not know a definitive answer to either one so I am asking, hoping to get answers.
There are two books which perhaps cover similar ground. One is Strassburger, Ralph Beaver; and Hinke, William J., who wrote "Pennsylvania German Pioneers", in three volumes. Published in 1934, one volume has facsimile reproductions of the signatures of the immigrants. The other book is Rupp, Israel Daniel, "A Collection of Upwards of Thirty Thousand Names of German, Swiss, Dutch, French, and Other Immigrants in Pennsylvania from 1727 to 1776." Apparently this book was not indexed, and a companion index has been published.
My question is, "What is the difference between these two books?" I know that Rupp used lists from sources other than the manifest lists of the shippers or the oaths of allegiance. Also, some of his names have been called into question as doubtful. Are the two books complementary and does each of them has something the other does not have? What are the opinions on the general scholarship of the books? Is one more accurate than the other?
The other question pertains to eighteenth century land sales in Virginia between private parties. Is it true that Virginia had the odd practice of recording a land sale in two parts? Did the first part read as a lease and was the amount always for five shillings? I have heard that the real transaction is usually recorded on the following day and it presents a better picture of the transaction. Have people been misled by thinking that the five shilling recording was the complete story?
I have looked at hundreds of land patents and grants but not many deeds. Do the deeds always contain a description by metes and bounds of the property? What is the quality of these descriptions?
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