1851 Cumberland ME Deed Entry Benj Porter to Isander Poor Book 233 Page 21 For Sale

A single leaf, likely excised from a bound volume, preserves a handwritten record of a deed entry from the Registry of Deeds in Cumberland County, dated June 24, 1851. The document documents a property transfer from Benj: Porter, the grantor, to Isander Poor, the grantee, and was formally received and recorded at precisely 3:25 in the afternoon. The entry is inscribed in a legible, formal cursive script characteristic of mid-19th-century official record-keeping, with the ink remaining dark and clear against paper that has aged to a warm, light tan. A darker strip along the right edge indicates where the leaf was once bound or tightly folded within a larger ledger, a common feature for pages removed from such registers. The legal abbreviation “Cumberland ss.” appears, with “ss.” standing for *scilicet*, denoting the specific jurisdiction of Cumberland County, Maine. The entry further specifies that the full deed was recorded in Book 233, Page 21, a critical reference for locating the original, complete document within the county’s archives. The registrar responsible for this recording was William Robb, whose title is abbreviated as “Regr.” At the bottom center of the page, the number “3 2 5” is inscribed, likely an internal page number, filing code, or other administrative notation used by the registry’s clerks. This piece of ephemera serves as an abstract or index entry, not the full deed itself, but a vital finding aid that documents the official process of land conveyance in the mid-19th century. It provides a tangible link to the administrative machinery of property law and local governance, offering genealogical and historical researchers a precise date, names of the parties involved, and the exact location of the primary record. The leaf’s survival as a standalone item, separate from its original bound volume, speaks to the common practice of disbinding ledgers for their individual pages, which are then collected by historians and ephemerists for their documentary value. The document is in good condition for its age, with no major tears or stains, and the handwriting, while formal, presents no significant challenges for a reader familiar with period script. This item encapsulates the bureaucratic precision of 19th-century American county record-keeping and the enduring importance of land documentation in the nation’s expansion and settlement.