At the recorder of deeds office today I was told by a clerk that grantee (buyer) records on their computers only go back to 1904, while the grantor (seller) records go back to 1877, the year St. Louis County separated from St. Louis City. Having researched at this location in the past, I knew this was not the case. While it appears at first glance that what she told me is true, upon further digging I found the earlier grantees listed at the end of the grantors in each respective year. So my advice to you is to keep asking questions because you just might get a different (better!) answer. And each time you do your research, make sure you document what record or reference you looked at, including how you found it. This is particularly helpful if you are using computers at the various repositories so you can remember the path you took to get to the records of value to you.
