Is it just me, or are historical deeds super charming?

It’s been a while since I got a light-hearted post up, so here’s a personal musing: historical deeds! I found one that dates back to the 18th century!

Why am I amused?

Well, I attribute this to my continued revelation of just much older countries and civilizations are as compared to Singapore. Modern Singapore was founded in 1819. By then, Europe and the US were at the sunset of the industrial revolution!

As an illustration:

Photo from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

Image by De Agostini / Icas94/Getty Images

The gravity of the difference in progress is just staggering.

Anyway, back to deeds.

If you’ve ever purchased a property, you’d know that a deed is recorded with the registry of the county to which your property belongs.

It’s an actual paper document with a book and page number that, supposedly, if you were to go to the registry you could look up. You could pull out an actual book, flip around, (sniff around others’ business) and voilà, find proof that you own real estate!

Or you could just look it up online.

What’s the homepage of your internet browser? Google? Financial Times?

Mine’s the Middlesex South Registry of Deeds.

it’s the little things that make me happy

I was so amused when I chanced upon a historical deed. This one was recorded in 1878, Book 160, Page 1666,

I mean, sure, of course I knew that they would be handwritten before typewriters came along. But who knew the handwriting would be so quaint?

Just look at the cursive writing. Look at the “seal”, with the tail of its “l” looped over the word.

And then there are the words that are decisively larger, like “Commonwealth of Massachusetts” and “Know all Men by these Presents”.

Finally, there’s the language.

“To Have and To Hold”! Like martial vows!

Present day deeds, by contrast, are pretty sterile. A couple purchasing a property together are either addressed as “tenants by the entirety” or “joint tenants”, depending on their wish for the deed to endure death of one party.

You’re legally an owner, but technically a tenant.

Great.

Oh also, note the date. They care to write A.D. 1878! So proper!