Straw Deeds are Not Chattel Transfers

Straw deeds are not chattel deeds selling straw from one farmer to another. There’s a little more to documents of this type than that. And…the phrase “straw deed” does not usually appear on a straw deed either.

Thomas Johnson Rampley had not completely paid for his federal purchase of land in Coshocton County, Ohio, when he died in 1823. More records are generated when people die before things are finished and that’s the case here.

There are two deeds in the land entry papers when the federal property had finally been paid for. Those transactions are summarized summarized below:

Tipton in this case is the “straw man.” It would have looked a little strange if James Shores, administrator of the Thomas J. Rampley estate, had sold the property to himself. So as the administrator Shores transfers the property to Tipton and then Tipton transfers to the property to Shores in his own right–and not as the administrator of the estate.

Straw men–and the concomitant straw deeds–were legal as long as no fraud was being committed. These procedures were usually done to make title clear.

Straw deeds have nothing to do with wheat being harvested on the property or the Wizard of Oz.  Wheat straw is not the issue here and James Shores and Thomas Tipton were not made of straw–nor where they tin men either.

Understanding the legal process often makes the unclear clear.

[1] Shores to Tipton, transfer dated 21 April 1829, James Shores, Assignee of Thomas J. Rampley, Dec’d, credit under file, certificate no. 1732, Zanesville, Ohio, Land Office; Land Entry Papers, 1800-1908; Records of the Bureau of Land Management, Record Group 49; National Archives, Washington, D. C.

[2] Tipton to Shores, transfer dated 21 April 1829, James Shores, Assignee of Thomas J. Rampley, Dec’d, credit under file, certificate no. 1732, Zanesville, Ohio, Land Office; Land Entry Papers, 1800-1908; Records of the Bureau of Land Management, Record Group 49; National Archives, Washington, D. C.