I have inherited mineral rights. According to my lawyer they are filed in Young county.
Question 1: How do I see if they are filed without having to call or go to the courthouse? Can this be done online thru public records or paying some fee to someone?
Question 2: How do I find out if there has been any drilling activitiy about 6 miles west of Olney? I am familiar with that area and know that in the past there has been oil wells.
I'm no expert in this area, but my feeling is that as long as you have filed a copy of the probated will with the Young County Clerk, you should be good - any landman looking to drill on the property you have an interest in should be able to find that you are now the legal owner of this interest. If you want to be sure, though, you could contact the Young County Clerk to see if he/she can research this or knows someone who can.
In answer to your second question, one place you can look is on one of the Texas Railroad Commission's online map viewers at http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/about-us/resource-center/research/gis-viewers/. If you use the enhanced viewer (the first one), you will want to go to the drop-down menu and select Wells and Surveys. Then, also on the drop-down menu, go to Go To and select Young County. Although it takes a little while to load, you can then click and drag your way around the map, much like in Google Maps. The one caution is that the scroll wheel on your mouse moves you north and south rather than zooming in or out - use the "+" and "-" buttons on the upper left to do that.
Both the survey name and abstract number should be visible on the map if you've scrolled in tight enough. If you do see wells on your property, you can click on the symbols to see more information, including who the current well operator is. You can then contact them to establish royalty payments for any producing well. It might also be worth contacting the producers of plugged wells to see if there are any royalties from those in suspense. Also, check the Texas Unclaimed Property website as well to see if any royalties due your parent might have ended up there.