As you may have seen in another post, I’m just starting to work through paper files and online data related to my deceased father’s mineral rights. I’ve made good progress with an older (1898) lease which is part of the Stringtown #3 Unit where Tribune Resources is now the operating company. My Father and our entire family reside in PA and the mineral rights have been passed down through family generations that lived in WV.
Searching the County documents website, I came across what appears to be a different lease that was signed by my father in 2009 with Jay-Bee Production Company. It was recorded in the Tyler County recorder’s office Book 370/Page 322 on 11/24/2009.
I’m can’t seem to tie this lease to anything else. It doesn’t directly reference any county map/parcel numbers. The only geographic description says:
“…being situated in McElroy District, County of Tyler, State of West Virginia, and described as follows, to-wit: Bounded on the
North by lands of Joshua Baker / J. N. Wilson N/F
East by lands of R. C. Anderson / P. Beaver Hrs N/F
South by lands of P. H. Stackpole N/F
West by lands of Joshua Baker N/F
containing 67 acres, more or less”
I cannot find any of these exact names with the Stringtown #3 Unit area. Baker and Stackpole family names are nearby or in it, but I can’t find them directly matching this description.
I also don’t know why there would be a new lease done in 2009. My father did not own any land in WV at that time. The lease is made in my father’s name as heir of his mother’s name. It was his mother’s family that is the tie to all of the mineral rights we do know about.
Does anyone have any thoughts on what I might be looking at?
Tonight I should have time to look at this. Meanwhile you can search for Ritchie County Historical Society and look for their store or whatever they call it. They have the old farm maps of Tyler, Doddridge, and other counties for sale. Era of those is about 1912 or so. Many of the leases used as descriptions the neighboring farms from those maps.
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I looked this up on my Tyler farm map and found it at the headwaters of Bunker Run, almost in Doddridge county (McClellan district) over in the far east part of Tyler McElroy. This 67 acres was owned by Joshua Baker, along with some land adjacent to the north (as the description says). Comparing geography, and using a service I subscribe to, I located it as being part of parcel 7 of map 14 of Tyler McElroy district. You can order a tax map from Tyler county, and I hope you can get your copy of the farm map for Tyler county from the Ritchie County Historical Society.
I discovered that you can search the Tyler county documents county documents database, select Tyler then Index search by (for example) Jay Bee and then sort by a key word search in the “legal” column to the right. I put in “67” and found quite a number of leases involving Jay Bee for that acreage. You might find relatives.
If you go to the WV Office of Oil and Gas interactive map and carefully find northern WV, then Tyler and see where a piece of Tyler sticks over between Wetzel and Doddridge, you can find a few API numbers in the area. I found 95-01595 (Joshua Baker #1) that might be on that acreage or at least very close (remember Joshua Baker owned more acreage than just the 67). There is a dry well (never produced but was given a number) 095-00107 which appears to be on the 67 acres. Then somewhat west of this area but close is a horizontal well 095-02053 which is a Jay Bee well. You have to check all the boxes on the map layers lower section to see all the wells.
The surface owner is Dwight L Lewis. Tyler county tax site. If you search by D-Map-P (District Map Parcel) select McElroy 14 7 and click on Paid to see the tax ticket. In theTax Detail page, you see near the bottom “Book” and “Page”. Here it is 291 -0508. If you go to the Tyler county records (above) and do a Book / Page search, you find nothing for book 291. It is in the older records so you go back to the “County Services” tab and it will let you choose “New Search”. Choose Archive. Then for “book” choose Deed, then put in 291 and 508. You will find several tracts conveyed. If you get ambitious, you can go back to the cited deeds and see what you get. If you are lucky, you can go back to the farm map days and find Joshua Baker.
Let me know if any of this makes sense, or all of it (I hope!). A lot to look at but it should help you figure out some of this. I have done this a lot and have picked up a few tricks along the way. But I still get stuck sometimes. Tyler county at least has the old records online which is a great help.
Nancy, Wow. Thank you so much for your detective work. I would probably never have stumbled on this. I haven’t looked into everything you wrote yet, but I did a quick look at the county documents database search portion and there are indeed relatives I recognize related to that set of 67 acre leases. Knight is the family name and several Knight heirs are on those leases. The information you provided will get me started in my research on researching this lease. I do not believe my parents were getting royalties related to this lease and we have minimal details of it in any of our records. I’ll see what I can track down using the rest of your information above. Thanks so much for your time.
Probably this lease was never drilled on and has expired but is something to watch. And to investigate. The more you know the better prepared you will be when a company contacts you again…
Exactly! However, I just chatted with Mom and this new information stirred up some memories. She now thinks that she has been getting checks from 2 different companies, she just can’t remember the company names of them. So I’m thinking maybe she has been getting royalties on this lease after all. She said one company just sends a check with no check stub. So once she cashes the checks, she had no proof of anything for me to look at now. The checks are always small, so it’s not a memorable event for her. Sigh. Onward I go… 
I guess she gets no 1099s from companies?
Ah. That’s a good reminder. I will look in their tax record folders. They do have most of that history kept. I did her 2018 taxes myself (the first time I’ve done them) and only Ascent Resources sent her a 1099 for 2018. But I can look at previous years next time I go to her house.
Do you have tax map and parcel numbers for the other lease modifications your father signed?
And, if you have time and want to deal with detail and tedium and occasional excitement, you can go back in the old documents (Tyler county deeds etc database) and look up the old leases and deeds involved with your various tracts. You could quickly get stuck, so please ask. If I were doing this, I would look at the old lease (1898) in the database and see if anything is written on it or stamped on it. Sometimes there is a notation about “See Lease book __ page __” where the lease has been assigned. Then I would look in the index (old system - I’d have to look at it to see how Tyler has it arranged) under the lessee (the one the lease was made to) and try to find the assignment. And on and on. Sometimes you find valuable information this way. I think there were at least 2 lease modifications under your father’s name. Go back and find out what you can about each of them. The 67 acres we have been talking about might be adjacent or at least near to one or both of the other ones, or not.
You might be able to find info about one of your grandmother’s relatives and contact him/her. Sometimes parts of the family have old info that other parts don’t.
Etc.