Who keeps what
- County clerk: deed records and official public records (deeds, leases, easements, releases, affidavits), plat records, and in most counties the probate records.
- District clerk: court cases that decided title, such as partition and trespass to try title suits.
- Appraisal district: surface parcels and owners, sales history and, in producing counties, mineral accounts kept for taxes.
- Railroad Commission of Texas: well permits, completions, production, plugging, field rules and pipeline maps.
- General Land Office: original patents, survey field notes and county maps, and records for state-owned minerals.
Indexes and images
Every county keeps an index of its instruments, and many put images online for part of their history. Online coverage starts at different years in different counties; older volumes may be at the courthouse only. Indexes carry typing errors and partial names, so a landman reads each instrument from its image.
How instruments are cited
By volume and page ("Vol. 74, Pg. 190", written DR 74/190 for the deed records) or by instrument number. A Texas survey also has an abstract number, such as A-1187: the number the General Land Office gave the original survey in that county, which is a different thing from an abstract of title.
We are landmen, not attorneys. This page describes the land record in general terms. It is not legal advice, and every matter turns on its own instruments.