Daily AncestorPower of attorney
A power of attorney is a document giving another person authority to act for you, for example to sell land or collect an inheritance.
A power of attorney lets one person, the principal, appoint another, the attorney in fact, to act in their place. The attorney did not have to be a lawyer.
They are common when heirs had moved away: a daughter living in another state might give her brother power of attorney to sell her share of the family land. Such papers often state where the signer lived at the time.
As seen in a recordDeed recorded in a county deed book, 1800s
Know all men that I, Ruth Hale of Knox County, Ohio, appoint my brother Amos Hale my true and lawful attorney.
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Daily Ancestor. "Power of attorney." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/legal-land/power-of-attorney. Last checked 2026-10-01.