I am posting information gleaned from land records in the areas where our family’s ancestors resided. You can read more about this project in the overview. You may also check my deed record listing, which I will update frequently, but probably not every day. This group pertain to Papa’s Fenton ancestors who resided in Wexford County, Michigan.
| Date: | 13 Feb 1879 |
| Liber: | 9 |
| Page: | 27 |
| Location: | Wexford County Michigan |
| Grantor: | John Fenton and Susie Fenton his wife of Wexford County, Michigan |
| Grantee: | Lillie Sturr of Vandalia, County of Cass, State of Michigan |
| Witnesses: | C.A. Lamb, Willis A. Galdding |
| Type of deed: | Quit Claim |
| Rec’d and recording: | 1 March 1879 |
| Clerk/registrar: | Manktelow |
| Location of land: | Township of Greenville (sic), Wexford County, Michigan |
| Consideration: | $25 |
| Notes: | |
| Description: | S 1/2 of the SE 1/4 Sec 32 T24N R10W |
John P. Fenton paid back taxes on this land, which is located in Greenwood Township, Wexford County, Michigan, totaling $18.01 on deeds recorded in liber 7 page 439 and liber 7 page 447 of Wexford County deeds. The recording dates for those deeds fell in May, 1878. Although I do not know what the recording, notary and other fees associated with these transactions might have been, the $25 John received from Lillie Sturr to “quit claim” on his tax deeds more that re-paid him for his efforts.
I find it helpful to compare the value of money today to the value of the same dollar amount during our ancestors lives. It helps me put the value of estates, or other transactions. A good site for exploring that is Measuring Worth.
I entered the $7.99 that John P. Fenton realized for these two transactions on the site’s US calculator and received this result:
Current data is only available till 2008. In 2008, $7.99 from 1878 is worth
$177.90 using the Consumer Price Index
$164.11 using the GDP deflator
using the value of consumer bundle
$1,231.61 using the unskilled wage
$2,184.95 using the nominal GDP per capita
$13,770.61 using the relative share of GDP
I will need to think about that for a little while.
2 comments
I always think about the price my ancestors had to pay for things too. Even since the 1970’s, when my husband and I were newly wed, we could buy seven bags of groceries for about $70. Now, we’re lucky if we get one bag for that much. And, our ancestors had to work much harder physically to make the small amounts they got too.
.-= Carol Wilkerson´s last blog ..iPentimento Best Genealogy Moment 2009 =-.
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Thanks for the comment, Carol. You sure are right about inflation, dollars today are not the same as dollars yesterday. Sometimes it is a real stretch to explain the differences between “then” and “now”. It is hard to understand “then” with our “now” mentality and tools, so value comparison helps some.