Question
My mother, Mary Backus, passed away on February 8 , 2018. She was born In Douglas, AZ in 1920. Her father, Murray Patterson and his uncle Oliver Patterson both homsteaded land in Apache, AZ. In 1928, they moved to Mesa, AZ. My mom has talked about how her family still owns the mineral rights of the property where they lived. They had a very large ranch and a small Adobe home. Since she passed away my brother has been working on getting her estate in order. He has not found any paperwork about these mineral rights. Is there an agency we can contact to see if she still has these mineral rights?
Thank you,
Nancy
Submitted on Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Answer
Hi Nancy,
This might be a tough problem to solve. I suggest starting with the Cochise County Assessor. I doubt that your search will end there, but if you know the precise location of the property that is a good place to start. You can view the Cochise County Assessor page at https://www.cochise.az.gov/assessor/home. You might pursue the issue with the Cochise County Recorder, too. ( https://www.cochise.az.gov/recorder/home)
Second, you might reach out to the Bureau of Land Management for information on the land management status of the land. If the federal government was ever involved, BLM would/should have records of any transactions. You can reach them by phone at 602.417.9200. You will need a precise location of the land or the landowners name to pursue this with BLM.
Good luck with your hunt.
Mike