Washington County (Utah). County Recorder Deeds (Pine Valley), 1878-1951.

Deeds are official contracts transferring property ownership. According to Utah law, no transfer or sale of property is valid unless it is recorded by the county recorder. (Laws of Utah, 1852. "An Act Regulating Transfers of Possession of Land and Real Estate," p. 66-67). Deeds include the names of buyer and seller, a legal description of the property, and specify the terms of the transfer. They are signed by the grantors (sellers) and witnesses. All documents in this series relate to property in western or north central Washington County, which includes Enterprise, Pine Valley, Ivins, Gunlock, Santa Clara, and Pinto. The records include not only deeds, but a wide variety of documents relating to real estate. These include: probate judge's deeds, indentures, quit claim deeds, warranty deeds, mortgages, mining claims, mining deeds, court decrees, auditor's tax deeds, preemption, desert land and homestead certificates, leases, agreements, right of way deeds and easements. They alsoinclude a few miscellaneous records.

The county recorder began Deed Book N as a record of mining activity in western and northern Washington County. He recorded the minutes of a meeting organizing the Riggs Mining District, as well as the bylaws and regulations for the Gunlock and Fort Pierce mining districts. In addition to these districts, he recorded notices of location and mining deeds for claims in the Volcanic, Santa Clara and White Rock mining districts. Amid the mining records, the recorder entered deeds transferring land in the Pine Valley town site from the Federal Government to the probate judge, and then deeds transferring town lots from the probate judge to inhabitants of Santa Clara and Pine Valley. Thereafter, in succeeding deed books, he began to record an increasing variety of land related documents.

Deed Record Book NN and N 1-N 4 primarily contain warranty or quit claim deeds, transferring property from one individual to another, but they also contain tax deedsand sheriff's deeds, in which property was sold to recoup delinquent taxes or unpaid debts. They include right of way deeds, which authorize a telephone or telegraph company to install and operate telegraph and telephone equipment; and corporation deeds for the sale of company land. They contain court decrees relating to estate settlements or other judgments involving land made by 5th District Court, and homestead certificates conveying land to individuals from the United States government. They contain conveyances from the State of Utah to individuals or corporations who purchased state land.

In addition to land related documents, a few miscellaneous records pepper this series. These include incorporation records, powers of attorney, bishop's and stake president's certificates. Book NN contains the petition to incorporate the city of Santa Clara (1914).