Clarke Co., Iowa, Deed Records - FamilySearch Full-Text machine transcripts of the three instruments indexed at [K.134]: Book H p. 626 (Holland to Joseph Cooper, 1867), Book 1 p. 160 (Joseph and Elizabeth Cooper to S. M. Smith, 1877) and Book 10 p. 149 (Dunfee to "Joseph Coop", 1888). The deed-book images themselves were NOT captured.

What this document records

Record

Three warranty deeds spanning twenty-one years of one man's landholding in Clarke County, Iowa.

Deed 1 book h page 626 as transcribed: grantors

Granville Holland and Coiline Holland of Polk County and State of Iowa

Deed 1 book h page 626 as transcribed: grantee

Joseph Cooper of Clarke County and State of Iowa

Deed 1 book h page 626 as transcribed: consideration

the sum of Thirteen Hundred Dollars

Deed 1 book h page 626 as transcribed: premises clarke co

The South half of the South West Quarter of Section No. Twenty (20) Township No. Seventy One (71) North Range No. Twenty Seven (27) [West] of 5t[h] P.M.

Deed 1 book h page 626 as transcribed: premises decatur co

and the following described premises in the County of Decatur & State aforesaid to wit: the North East quarter of the South West Quarter of Sec[tion] Six (6) in Township Seventy (70) N Range No. Twenty Seven (27) West, Except ten acres off of the South Side of the last named piece

Deed 1 book h page 626 as transcribed: dower

and the said Colline Holland hereby relinquishes her right of dower in and to the above described premises

Deed 1 book h page 626 as transcribed: signed

Signed this 14th day of December A.D. 1867. Granville Holland / IN PRESENCE OF Eveline Holland

Deed 1 book h page 626 as transcribed: acknowledgment

STATE OF IOWA, Polk County. On this 13th day of January A.D. 1868, before me Robert L Ledrick a Notary Public within and for said County, personally came Granville Holland and Eveline Holland ... at Des Moines on the date last above written.

Deed 2 book 1 page 160 as transcribed: heading

Joseph Cooper and Wife / S M Smith / WARRANTY DEED. / Filed for Record December 27 1878 at 2 o clock [P.]M.

Deed 2 book 1 page 160 as transcribed: grantors

We Joseph Cooper & Elizabeth Cooper [of] Clarke County, and State of Iowa

Deed 2 book 1 page 160 as transcribed: grantee

S M Smith of Clarke County, and State of Iowa

Deed 2 book 1 page 160 as transcribed: consideration

the sum [of] Eighteen Hundred DOLLARS in hand paid

Deed 2 book 1 page 160 as transcribed: premises

The South half of the South West quarter of Section No (20) Twenty Township No Seventy one (71) North of Range No [Twenty Seven] West of 5th [P.M.]

Deed 2 book 1 page 160 as transcribed: encumbrance

Except [a] Mortgage of Five hundred Dollars to Frank and Darrow of Corning [Iowa]

Deed 2 book 1 page 160 as transcribed: dower

And the said Elizabeth Cooper hereby relinquishe[s] he[r] right of dower in and to the above described premises

Deed 2 book 1 page 160 as transcribed: signed

Signed this 31[st] day of December A.D. 1877. IN PRESENCE OF Joseph Cooper / Elizabeth Cooper

Deed 2 book 1 page 160 as transcribed: acknowledgment

STATE OF IOWA, Clarke County, ss. on this 31st day of December A.D. 1878 before me James Elliott Justice of the peace within and for said County personally came Joseph Cooper & Elizabeth Cooper his wife ... at Hopeville.

Deed 3 book 10 page 149 as transcribed: heading

Filed for Record Sept 12 1888 at 5 [o]clock. WARRANTY DEED. Madison Dunfee & wife / Joseph Coop / D. S. Cowman

Deed 3 book 10 page 149 as transcribed: grantors

We Madison Dunfee and Barbara Dunfee Husband and wife of Clarke County, and State of Iowa

Deed 3 book 10 page 149 as transcribed: grantee

Joseph Coop of Clark[e] County, and State of Io[wa]

Deed 3 book 10 page 149 as transcribed: consideration

the sum of Twenty Four Dollars

Deed 3 book 10 page 149 as transcribed: premises

Commencing Eight rods South of the North West corner of [the] South West quarter of the North East quarter of Section No Seventeen (17) in To[w]nship No Seventy One (71) North of Range No Twenty Seven West (27), thence South thirty two (32) [rods], thence East twenty rods (20), thence North Thirty Two (32), thence West Twenty rods to the place of beginning, containing four acres more or less.

Deed 3 book 10 page 149 as transcribed: dower

And the said Barbara Dunfee here[by] relinquish[es] her right of dower

Deed 3 book 10 page 149 as transcribed: signed

signed this [blank] day of May A.D. 1888. IN PRESENCE OF Madison Dunfee / Barbara Dunfee

Deed 3 book 10 page 149 as transcribed: acknowledgment

STATE OF IOWA, Clark[e] COUNTY, SS: On this 9[th] day of May A.D. 1888, before me B Reitzel Justice of the Peace within and for said County, personally came Madison Dunfee and Barbara Dunfee.

Reading notes: the 1888 grantee is written coop not cooper and the deed confirms the index

[K.134] read the 1888 index line as "GRANTEES 'Coop Joseph'" and declined to identify him, noting it falls after Joseph Cooper's move to Kansas. THE INSTRUMENT SUPPORTS THAT CAUTION. The body of the deed writes "Joseph Coop" FOUR times - in the margin heading, in the consideration clause, in the granting clause and in the covenant - and never once "Cooper". A clerk abbreviating would be unlikely to drop the same two letters four times in one instrument. SO THIS IS PROBABLY A DIFFERENT MAN, and the catalog should not attach the 1888 purchase to Joseph Cooper on the strength of a forename and a county. Recorded as a reading about the document, not an identification.

Reading notes: the 1877 deed carries an impossible date and it is left as transcribed

The deed is signed "this 31[st] day of December A.D. 1877", filed for record 27 December 1878, and acknowledged - per the transcript - "on this 31st day of December A.D. 1878". AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT FOUR DAYS AFTER THE FILING IS IMPOSSIBLE, so one of the two 1878s is wrong. [K.134]'s index line at image 357 reads "instrument Dec 31 1877", which agrees with the signing. BOTH FORMS ARE RECORDED AS TRANSCRIBED AND NEITHER IS CORRECTED. The likeliest explanation is an OCR slip on a single digit, but the second likeliest is a clerk's slip in the register itself, and only the image can tell the two apart. What is NOT in doubt is the eleven-month gap between execution and filing, which both the index and the deed give.

Reading notes: what the instruments add to the index lines

[K.134] had the parties, the dates, the books and pages and the legal descriptions. The deeds add: THE PRICES - 1,300 dollars paid in 1867 and 1,800 received in 1877, a 500-dollar gain across ten years on the Clarke parcel; the 500-DOLLAR MORTGAGE to "Frank and Darrow of Corning" outstanding at the 1877 sale; the Hollands' residence in POLK COUNTY and the wife's name; the officers and places of acknowledgment - Des Moines before Robert L. Ledrick, Notary, in 1868 and HOPEVILLE before James Elliott, Justice of the Peace, in 1877; and ELIZABETH COOPER NAMED AND RELINQUISHING DOWER IN HER OWN RIGHT IN 1877, which is an attestation of her given name between the 1870 census and the 1880 one.

Reading notes: the holland wife is written two ways on one page

The granting clause names "Coiline Holland", the dower clause "Colline Holland", and the signature block and the acknowledgment both "Eveline Holland". Recorded as transcribed. A machine transcript rendering one name three ways is ordinary; which form the clerk actually wrote needs the image.

Reading notes: the decatur county parcel is not accounted for

The 1867 purchase conveys TWO parcels - the Clarke County S half SW quarter of section 20, and in DECATUR COUNTY the NE quarter of the SW quarter of section 6, T70 R27, less ten acres off the south side. The 1877 sale to S. M. Smith conveys ONLY the Clarke parcel. SO THE DECATUR LAND IS UNACCOUNTED FOR, and nothing in the Clarke County indexes can account for it, because it is in another county. See the todo.

What these documents do not say

No ages, no birthplaces, no parentage, no occupation, no relationships beyond husband and wife, and nothing connecting Joseph Cooper of Clarke County to New Jersey. The 1888 deed says nothing about whether "Joseph Coop" is or is not the same man.