1. Fun Facts:
Dukes County was a
county of the Province of New York from 1683 to 1691. It consisted of the
Elizabeth Islands, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Island. In 1691, the county
was transferred to the newly formed Province of Massachusetts Bay, where it was
divided into Dukes County and Nantucket County in Massachusetts.
Thomas Mayhew sold
Nantucket Island to Tristram Coffin and other Salisbury investors in 1659 for
“thirty pounds plus two beaver hats one for my wife, and one for myself."
See transcribed records in Book A Page 26.
Philip J. Norton
was the longest serving Register of Deeds in Dukes County, 59 years of service,
from December 1918 to January 1977.
Josiah Smith, as
Register of Deeds, kept his office at home in Pohogonot until the new
courthouse was built in 1858.
2.
All
land transfers and any transfers of interest, for consideration or not,
including leases (of 30 years of more) must be processed through the Martha’s
Vineyard Land Bank prior to being recorded at the Registry of Deeds, with the
exception of properties located in Gosnold.
3.
To
record a deed electronically, you must upload the Land Bank forms to the
Simplifile portal. Land Bank forms can be downloaded from their website.
Simplifile will route the package to the Land Bank first and once processed by
them, the document is routed to the Registry of Deeds for recording.
4.
You can e-file in Registered Land (Land
Court) using Simplifile.
5.
Registered Land documents are now being
returned to the customer after recording.
6. Grantor and Grantee Index books are available on www.masslandrecords.com/Dukes
beginning in 1641.
7.
The 318 gingerbread cottages, which are
clustered together in Oak Bluffs, are listed in the National Register of
Historic Places. Since transfers are done through a bill of sale and a
year-to-year lease to the Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association, all
changes in ownership must be recorded with the MVCMA office and Town of Oak
Bluffs. There are no deeds filed at the Registry of Deeds.
8.
You can view many documents not yet
available on MassLandRecords.com at dukescountydeeds.org under
Book Vault.
9.
We have a link on our website http://www.massrods.com/dukes,
where the public can sign up for Consumer Notification Alerts.
10.
From 1970s to 2004, surveys were
segregated by town and called Case Files. For example, Edgartown Case File No.
102 can be found as Plan Book E, Page 102. West Tisbury Case File No. 5
can be found as Plan Book W, Page 5.
Simplifile Screenshot showing where to upload Land Bank Forms:
Dukes County
Courthouse 1858:
Dukes County
Registry of Deeds circa 1956:
Paulo C. DeOliveira is the Register of
Deeds for Dukes County and the current President of the Massachusetts Registers
and Assistant Registers of Deeds Association.
