Facts For State Land Records

• U.S. House of Representative Private Claims, Vol. 1, Vol. 2 or Vol. 3
• Search the Land Records from All States
• Search Property Reports Now!

The right to own land has always been one of the great incentives for living in the United States. Yet researchers often overlook the importance of land records as a source of family history information. Written evidence of people’s entitlement goes back in time further than virtually any other type of record family historians might use.

Land records meet the needs of researchers in different ways and contain a variety of genealogical and historical data. They are a major source of information for many family histories and provide primary source material for local history as well. They are closely related to probate and other official court records and should be investigated in connection with them. Land and property are leading issues in the settlement of estates, and the majority of civil cases in the courts deal with real and personal property. Although land records rarely yield vital statistics, in many instances they provide the only proof of family relationships. Often they include the names of heirs of an estate (including daughters’ married names and a widow’s subsequent married name) and refer to related probates and other court cases by number and court name. In some places where other records are scarce, the land records take on extra importance. Occasionally these documents disclose former residences and more often provide the new address of the grantors or heirs at the time of the sale of the property.

Land records provide two types of important evidence for the family historian. First, they often document family relationships. Second, they place individuals in a specific time and place, allowing the researcher to sort people and families into neighborhoods and closely related groups. One of land records’ most important qualities is that they are sometimes the only records that allow us to distinguish one person of a common name from another.

The National Archives has bounty-land warrant files, donation land entry files, homestead application files, and private land claim files relating to the entry of individual settlers on land in the public land states. There are no land records for the original thirteen states or for Maine, Vermont, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, and Hawaii. Records for these states are maintained by state officials, usually in the state capital. Searching for the record of a particular land grant from the federal government requires contacting both the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the National Archives (NARA).

Alabama - Most land records will be found with the county recorder’s office, the registrar’s office, or in the county court at the county seat. Despite their titles, deeds found in a county recorder’s office may include other legal documents of transfer, such as deeds in fee simple granting absolute ownership; mortgages transferring property rights as security for debts; dower releases waiving wives’ rights; quit-claim deeds releasing whatever title or right is held whether valid or not; deeds of gift transferring land without reciprocal consideration; powers of attorney appointing legal agents; marriage property settlements; bills of sale transferring property that is usually not land; and various forms of contracts, such as leases, partnerships, indenture papers, and other performance bonds. Deed books from before the Civil War and especially in colonial years were more miscellaneous in their contents, even including animal brands, occasional wills, slave manumissions, apprentice papers, petitions, depositions, tax lists, and whatever else the clerk decided to preserve on a convenient page. Through such records a researcher may trace the ownership of land, in some cases for two centuries or more. Search Alabama Land Records

Colonial settlers acquired title to Alabama lands from the French, the Spanish, the British, and the Native Americans. Original copies of these grants from the first three groups may be found, respectively, in the Archives Nationales in Paris, the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, and the Public Record Office in London. When land title was transferred from Great Britain to the United States in 1783, following the American Revolution, preemptive landowners were required to file proof of their land title with the U.S.

   Title to previously ungranted lands was vested in the federal government, and titles were conveyed to individuals either by sale or by bounty-land warrant. The Land Act of 1800, as amended in 1803, simplified the claiming of land titles by authorizing local public land offices to survey and auction lands within their charge.

Sales were sanctioned through thirteen land offices including 

• St. Stephens (established December 1806, transferred to Mobile 1867)
• Huntsville (established at Nashville in March 1807, transferred to Huntsville 1811, transferred to Montgomery May 1866)
• Cahaba (established at Milledgeville, Georgia, August 1817, transferred to Cahaba October 1818, transferred to Grenville 1856); 
• Tuscaloosa (established May 1820, transferred to Montgomery 1832)
• Sparta-Conecuh Courthouse (established May 1820, transferred to Montgomery 1854)
• Montgomery (established July 1832, closed 1927)
• Mardisville-Montevallo (established July 1832, transferred to Lebanon 1842)
• Demopolis (established March 1833, transferred to Montgomery March 1866)
• Lebanon (established April 1842, transferred to Centre 1858)
• Elba (established April 1854, transferred to Montgomery April 1867)
• Greenville (established 1856, transferred to Montgomery 1866)
• Centre (established 1858, transferred to Huntsville 1866)
• Mobile (established 1867, transferred to Montgomery June 1879).

When the land offices were closed, their original records were sent to the Washington, D.C., office. Tract books indicating the original sale of property from the federal government, or the state of Alabama in case of a sixteenth section, are housed in the county probate judge's office. The books, arranged by legal description, include the name of the purchaser, the amount of acres purchased, the price, date of purchase, certificate number, and whether or not the land was obtained under a military act. These records do not include lands cut away to form new counties or subsequent sales of original tracts.

All subsequent title transactions following the original title transfer from the federal government are recorded in the probate judge's records of the county in which the property lies. These records include conveyance records, which detail the transfer of property either by sale or donation.

In some counties, mortgages were recorded in the same volumes as outright conveyance of real property, while in others liens and deeds of trust are recorded separately as "Mortgages.

Alaska - The First Organic Act of 1884 extended the laws of Oregon to Alaska only “so far as [they] may be applicable.” Alaska became public domain, and unclaimed land was surveyed by the federal government and sold. Land offices were established at Sitka in 1885, Juneau in 1902, and Nome in 1907.

A person could obtain a title to a tract of public land only after it had been surveyed. After an individual obtained a certificate of title, a patent was issued. Copies of these are in patent books in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Washington, D.C.

Records for the Land offices of Juneau, Nome, and Sitka include cash entries, homestead final certificates, canceled homestead entries, and canceled Indian allotments. The BLM in Washington D.C., has these records as well as an index to the cash entry files for Alaska.

Patents, tract books, and township plats are on file at the Bureau of Land Management, Anchorage Federal Office Building, 701 C Street, Anchorage, AK 99513.

The National Archives/Alaska Region has records of the surveyor general of the territory of Alaska. These records generally include correspondence and applications from settlers for land or mineral surveys (Fairbanks, Copper River, and Seward Meridians). Copies of the tract books, township plats, and other records of the GLO (forerunner to the BLM) can be found here.

Land records outside the BLM are available at the Division of Lands, Department of Natural Resources, Anchorage, AK 99501. The Alaska State Archives has descriptions and maps of mining claims. The Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geological and Geophysical Survey, Fairbanks, AK 99701, has a large collection of mining claims. The majority of this collection dates after 1953, although earlier records are also on file.

Land transferred by sale or grant to private ownership could be sold again, inherited, or lost. These records are filed at the office of the district recorder in each judicial district, which is similar to a county recorder in other states. Some land records are also available in the Territorial era District Court records.

Arizona - On 24 February 1863, Arizona became a territory. From 1850 until that date, it had been part of New Mexico Territory. In 1866, what was then Pah-Ute County was ceded to Nevada. On 14 February 1912, Arizona became the forty-eighth state of the Union. Until long after its early explorers came in the 1500s, the state had very little settlement, and then it would be only in the area of Tucson.

The “bloody Indian wars” did not end until 1886 which were a continuing impediment to frontier expansion. For lands granted to the United States in 1848 and for private land claims, write to the National Archives-Southwest Region. For questions relating to state lands, contact the Arizona State Land Commissioner in Phoenix.

While Arizona was admitted as a territory in 1863, it wasn't until 1870 that the U.S. Federal District Land Office was first opened in Prescott. Later, one opened in Phoenix. Many of these early land claims were for mining enterprises. When searching for early land records in Arizona, one needs to include the U.S. Land Office entries at the National Archives-Southwest Region, which has mining and homestead surveys, land claims, grazing service records, and rights-of-way claims and settlements for Gila, Salt River, and Navajo Meridians or the National Archives-Rocky Mountain Region, which has state office and district land tract books and registers. Arizona is a public land state, meaning that lands could be acquired directly from the federal government. If there is reason to believe that an ancestor did obtain land in this manner, direct inquires to the General Branch, National Archives and Records Service, Washington, DC 20409. Indicate the person's name, state of Arizona, and whether it was before 1908. Arizona records prior to 1908 have been indexed.

The county recorder for each county has jurisdiction over land records within their respective counties. Before good use can be made of land transactions in Arizona, the researcher must bear in mind how ownership was acquired. Since Arizona entered the jurisdiction of the United States as part of the New Mexico Territory, where pueblos had already been established, most of the previous claims were recognized by the federal government. In examining land records, it will be normal to find Spanish phrases such as “leagues” and “varas,” as units of measurement for surveys.

Arkansas - When Missouri Territory, encompassing the present state of Arkansas, was established in 1812, the United States government agreed to acknowledge private land previously granted by Spain and Mexico. Two grants were also awarded to previous French claims. Search Arkansas Land Grants

The largest percentage of Spanish and Mexican grants were located in the present-day counties of Arkansas and Desha. Preemption rights were acknowledged in 1814, and private land claims were heard by land commissions. Spanish control of land was loose, and many officials and landowners failed to comply with regulations, resulting in continuous claim problems, some extending for forty years after statehood. At times, no surveys were conducted for these grants. Frequently forgeries were made of the governor's signature on land grants, resulting in a high percentage of fraudulent claims. Early Spanish land claims and the original tract book are available at the National Archives and the FHL.

A French measurement term used in some Spanish grants is “arpents”; one arpent is a little more than four-fifths of an acre. Most early land grants to heads of household were for parcels of 800 arpents, or approximately sixty-eight acres. An additional parcel of fifty arpents or about forty-two acres was awarded for each child.

Between 1803 and 1836, Native Americans were forced to cede their lands in Arkansas and move west. As the federal government acquired land, it was made available for settlement. Territorial land transactions began in 1803 for the Arkansas District (part of Louisiana Territory until 1812 when the district became part of Missouri Territory) and in 1819, when it became Arkansas Territory. First Settlers of the Missouri Territory, 2 vols. (Nacogdoches, Tex.: Ericson Books, 1983), lists early land grants in Arkansas. Originally negotiated by William Lovely as cession land, Lovely Purchase Donation Claims generated from the private sale of land for the present-day area of northwest Arkansas are grouped and microfilmed along with disputed Spanish land claims and the original tract book. Bounty land for War of 1812 service was distributed by lottery. 

The first land office was established in 1818 with the GLO ordering a survey of sixty townships. The first survey was finished in 1819, but no land was actually sold until 1821. Land offices opened at Arkansas Post and Davidsonville in 1820 were soon moved to Little Rock and Batesville, respectively.

In 1832 Congress divided the territory into four land districts. Two additional land offices were then opened at Fayetteville and Washington. Increased demand for land led to additional offices at Helena and Clarksville before 1840, followed by Champagnole before 1850 and Huntsville in the next decade. New land offices appeared by 1870 at Camden, Dardanelle, and Harrison. But, between 1880 and 1900 the only land offices open in all of Arkansas were those located in Camden, Dardanelle, Harrison, and Little Rock. The latter remained open until 1933.

After the initial acquisition, all subsequent land transfers are recorded at the county seat through the county clerk's office.

California - Owen C. Coy, in his book on the county archives of California (see County Resources), classifies the land records in four pre-statehood categories. The earliest relate to the Spanish (1769–1822) and Mexican (1822–48) land recordings and are mostly in Spanish. The bulk of the surviving records are in the county recorders' offices. The most notable collection of this period is undoubtedly the recorder's collection (1781–1850) in Monterey County, but it covers a multitude of proceedings as Monterey was the seat of government for Alta California. Santa Cruz has a similar set of documents (1797–1845), and the San Jose clerk's archives hold various records from 1792.

During the Spanish period, California was divided into four districts for purposes of administration: San Diego in 1769, Monterey in 1770, San Francisco in 1776, and finally the district of Santa Barbara in 1782. For the period of Mexican jurisdiction, there are two major collections, one in Los Angeles and one in San Francisco; with the larger group of land records in San Francisco.

Under both the Spanish and Mexican regimes, land in California was allocated first to pueblos for the use of its towns and its inhabitants, second to presidios for use of the military in defending the citizenry and in keeping the peace, and third to the Catholic missions for the purpose of extending the church's theology to the native population.

Almost as soon as the last of the edifices in the chain of missions was completed in 1833, the Mexican government secularized all mission lands and allowed these lands to be bought for private use. Spain had begun the practice of allowing concessions of private ranchos when, in 1784, Governor Pedro Fages bestowed ranchos upon three of his soldados de cuero (leather jacket troops) that he had led into California in 1769. These ranchos were San Rafael, San Pedro, and Los Nietos. By 1851, when the U.S. Board of Land Commissioners and the courts of record began hearing land claims cases, there were over 900 private land claims of named ranchos and an additional twenty-six unnamed grants. From 1851 through 1856, the Commission heard 813 cases in which title to over twelve million acres was decided. Of these, the board approved 520 claims and refused to recognize 273. Only a fraction of these decisions were overturned by the courts. Since the land commission met in San Francisco, a great hardship was created for the Southern California claimants.

Records pertaining to Spanish and Mexican land claims were bound into seven volumes by the U.S. Surveyor General's Office, a part of the Department of the Interior. For details write to the U.S. Geological Survey Office, 119 National Center, Reston, Virginia 22092. The records of the Bureau of Land Management (Record Group 49), Private Land Claims No. 183, are located in the National Archives in Washington D.C.

Robert Cowan writes in Ranchos of California (see Background Sources) that there were 3,500 people in Alta California, and by the end of the Mexican administration in 1846 the population had increased to almost 7,000. The Alta California records for the period of the Mexican-American war, 1846–48, may be found in the archives in Los Angeles, Monterey, San Francisco, and Sonoma counties.

During the Spanish and Mexican occupations, a government agent called the alcalde was the equivalent of our present-day mayor, only with greatly enhanced powers and singular jurisdictions (singular in that he performed many functions not commonly associated with that office today). Several counties have preserved their alcades' records for the period between when California statehood became official. Counties with such records include: Contra Costa, El Dorado, Marin, Monterey, Napa, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sonoma, Sutter, and Yuba.

Mission lands, comprising about one-sixth of Upper California, were secularized in 1833 and by 1846 were parceled out to some 500 ranches which generated numerous records and documents. Land acquired by the U.S. Government in 1848 was disposed of by means of “patents.” Records of these will be found in various recorders' offices and include patents as well as Spanish and Mexican grants of the rancho holdings.

In general, counties are responsible for maintaining records concerning each parcel within its jurisdiction. The county recorder is usually in charge of the document, book notation, index, etc., except where the records are so old that they have been placed in an archive within the county or in the state archives in Sacramento. Ultimately, the county board of supervisors is responsible for the records and repositories. In order to chart the ownership of land in California, the records are done with a “chain of title.” This record begins with the oldest entry of the land down to the most recent.

Records throughout the state begin with the formation of the county, with the possible exception of those counties where there have been unusual circumstances, such as the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906. Contact the county recorder for the county in which the land is situated. In some instances the parent county must be searched also.

The county recorder is usually in charge of the document, book notation, index, etc., except where the records are so old that they have been placed in an archive within the county or in the state archives in Sacramento. Ultimately, the county board of supervisors is responsible for the records and repositories. In order to chart the ownership of land in California, the records are executed with a "chain of title." This record begins with the oldest entry of the land down to the most recent.

A compilation of indexes to real property owners was begun in the 1980s. In the alphabetical lists (for 1 July 1984, 1988, and 1989, available at the California State Library), one can find the name and mailing address of all property owners. Because the state no longer allows open access to all driver's license applications and city and county directories are not available for all locations, the Property Owners Index is quite useful for tracing living persons.

For further reference, in addition to Ryskamp's Tracing Your Hispanic Heritage, see:

• Beers, Henry Putney. Spanish and Mexican Records of the American Southwest: A Biographical Guide to Archive and Manuscript Sources. Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press, 1979.
• Cleland, Robert Glass. The Irvine Ranch. San Marino, Calif.: Huntington Library, 1976.
• ———. The Cattle on a Thousand Hills: Southern California, 1850–1870. San Marino, Calif.: Huntington Library, 1941.
• Cowan, Robert G. Ranchos of California: A List of Spanish Concessions, 1775–1822 and Mexican Grants 1822–1846. Los Angeles: Historical Society of Southern California, 1977.
  Land Definitions

The following definitions will be useful for anyone conducting research in California:

• Haciendas: The Mexican equivalent of “rancho”; not widely used in California.
• Ranchos: Land grants made by the government. The first one made in California was for 140 varas near Carmel.
• Pueblos: Towns for civilian settlers, a tract four square leagues or 17,500 acres.
• Presidios: Land granted for the use of the military to carry out its duties to defend the province against foreign invasion and to keep civil order. Title was actually passed in fee simple. Presidios were established in Santa Barbara, Monterey, San Diego, and San Francisco.
• Missions: Land set aside for the use of the church in its work with the Indians native to the area. Title was not passed to the mission, nor to an individual. After the Act of Secularization, the missions were broken up and the lands were mostly granted to those making a petition to the government. Of some 800 ranchos which were in existence when the U.S. government took possession of California, just over 500 were later confirmed by American courts.
• Districts: There were originally four districts set up for the administration of each province of Alta California, as mentioned earlier. Later, Los Angeles was added to the list. Each district had a presidio and a mission, although there might have been more than one mission in each.

Colorado - Records of the Spanish and Mexican land grants are located in the Western History Collection at the Denver Public Library, 1357 Broadway, Denver, Colorado 80203.

Once the area fell under U.S. jurisdiction, land was first transfered from the federal government to individuals. The Homestead Act of 1862 provided for the disposal of most of Colorado's land.

Land offices existed in Cental City, Del Norte, Denver, Durango, Glenwood Springs, Gunnison, Hugo, Lamar, Leadville, Montrose, Peublo, and Sterling. While some early land records of Denver were lost to floods, others have survived. The Homestead Tract Books and Register of Homestead Entries are found at the National Archives/Rocky Mountain Region in Denver. While some early land records of Denver were lost in the Cherry Creek flood of 1864, others have survived. The patent case files are located in the Bureau of Land Management, 1037 20th Street, Denver, Colorado 80202. The researcher must know the legal description of the land of interest.

At the county level, deed books, mortgages, and land plats are held by the county clerk and recorder's office.

Connecticut - As with other New England states, the Crown of England had what it considered legal right to the land, yet it was not until 1662 that royal grants and patents were established in Connecticut to cover the settlers who had been there for thirty years. As with Rhode Island, land was first purchased by individuals (not the Crown of England) from the Native Americans.

The Connecticut General Assembly had first jurisdiction over the colony and established town proprietors to meet and make decisions regarding community life in the town. Land was divided and sold in lots; registration of deed transactions was the responsibility of the town clerk.

Deed books are generally indexed individually. Town clerks usually have comprehensive indexes to grantors and grantees. Formerly microfilmed only to 1850, the books have now been microfilmed to 1900 and can be consulted either in the central location at the Connecticut State Library or through the FHL and its branches. There is no state-wide index to all deeds, however.

Delaware - From 1680 the original deed and mortgage volumes, microfilms of them, or both, are at the Delaware State Archives, with corresponding indexes. Kent County holdings at the archives extend to 1970; New Castle to 1962; and Sussex to 1968.

The state archives also has a card index of original land patents, warrants, and surveys, arranged by county, as well as a list of some of the Maryland grants now located in Delaware. Information on related Maryland land should also be sought in the published Archives of Maryland. Warrants and surveys made during the proprietorship of the Penn family, 1682–1776 are at the state archives; those for 1759–61 are included in Warrants and Surveys of the Province of Pennsylvania including the Three Lower Counties 1759 (see Pennsylvania Land Records). Some land purchases are chronicled in the Pennsylvania Archives, 2d Series, vols. 7 and 19.

Other published land records are Original Land Titles in Delaware Commonly Known as Duke of York Record, 1646-1679 (1899; reprint, Westminster, Md.: Family Line Publications, 1989) and “Dutch and Swedish Land Records Relating to Delaware: Some New Documents and A Checklist,” Delaware History 6 (1954): 25–52. The state archives acquired microfilm of official grants of land in present-day Delaware from New York and Pennsylvania sources, and these are listed in Delaware's fugitive records (Dover, Del.: Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, 1980).

In addition to county taxes, colonial Delaware landowners had to pay annual quitrents to the proprietor. The quitrents for 1665–71 (during the period Delaware was controlled by New York) were published in B. Fernow, ed., Documents Relative to the History of Dutch and Swedish Settlements on the Delaware River, Vol. 12 of Documents Relative to the Colonial History of New York (Albany, N.Y.: Argus Co., 1877), pages 490–92. This volume contains other lists of Delaware residents during the 1670s. Some quitrent information is also found in private proprietors' records such as the Logan Papers at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

In each of Delaware's three counties, the recorder of deeds has the primary land records, with deeds and mortgages kept separately. Only the most recent deeds are in the counties, however. Most have been transferred to the archives.

District of Columbia - District of Columbia land transactions that took place prior to 1792 are found among records for Maryland or Virginia.

Microfilm copies of Alexandria County, Virginia deeds from 1783 to 1865 are also available at the FHL, along with Maryland Circuit Court deeds for Prince George's County from 1696 to 1884 and Montgomery County from 1777 to 1863.

Bessie Wilmarth Gahn, Original Patentees of Land at Washington Prior to 1700 (1836; reprint, Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1969), lists the earlier land owners a century before the District of Columbia was created.

Deeds (or an index to them) from 1792 to the present are located at the Recorder of Deeds, 515 D Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001. Earliest deeds (1792–1869) are at the National Archives, but a search of the index at the recorder's office will be helpful first. Those for the period 1792 to 1886 and accompanying index volumes have been microfilmed and are available through the FHL. Of interest to those tracing slave ancestors is the presence of manumission records among the deeds.

Florida - Spanish Land Grants - The state archives holds a vast body of records created about 1820-22 for the use of the federal government in affirming or denying earlier Spanish grants of land. In many cases these are the only surviving references to some of the pre-territorial residents of the area. The indexed documents are filed by claimant, and the amount of information they contain varies greatly, but the affidavits often tell when an individual arrived in Florida and how many were in his family, including names and ages. The acreage granted often depended on the number of "heads" in the family.

The original fragile records, largely in Spanish, are extant, but the WPA made a five-volume transcript, Spanish Land Grants in Florida, which includes Spanish Grants, British Grants and Private Land Claims, is available at the Flordia State Archives and in a number of libraries, as well as in an inexpensive microfiche edition from the archives.

Armed Occupation Act Records - In 1842, during the Second Seminole War, the federal government granted lands south of the line dividing Townships Nine and Ten South (a line running east and west about three miles north of Palatka) to individuals who agreed to claim, populate, and hold-by force of arms, if necessary-some of the undeveloped lands of East Florida. More than 1,000 persons responded, cleared the minimum five acres of their 160-acre grant, and lived on the property for the required five years. The records give the date an individual arrived in the territory, marital status, location of the grant holding, and the like.

Division of State Lands Records - The Land Ordinance of 1785 decreed a land-survey system known as the rectangular system of survey, and Florida was the first state, and remains the only state on the Eastern Seaboard, to be surveyed in orderly squares rather than under the old English system of "metes and bounds" utilized in the thirteen original "state-land" states. The original surveyors' field notes and plats have been transferred to the state archives, along with the original tract books and records of all grants of land from the state to the initial grantee, whether by purchase or otherwise. A fascinating and valuable resource, the notes and other files depict for the careful researcher the topography, settlements, and even the houses of the early territorial period and beyond. Preliminary Inventory of the Land-Entry Papers of the General Land Office, at the National Archives, lists Florida records beginning in 1825.

Homestead Files - The homestead applications filed by Florida settlers, between 1881-1905, have been transferred to the Florida State Archives. Information contained includes name of applicant, place of residence at time of application, tract description, and number of acres granted. There is a surname index. Other homestead records included in this Record Group 598 include tax receipts required to prove that claimants were paying taxes on their claims, unindexed miscellaneous and legal records concerning homesteads, and correspondence of the State Land Office, 1858-1913.

Subsequent Land Transactions - Deeds after the first grants are recorded generally through the clerk of the courts in the county seat

Georgia - Most surviving pre-1900 county land records, including deeds and land court minutes, are on microfilm at the Georgia Department of Archives and History and the FHL.

Many of the mortgage and county plat books are not included in the FHL's microfilm collection. Where Georgians sold lots won in the lotteries, researchers will find that deeds may be valuable sources of genealogical information. Those deeds should have been recorded in the counties where the land was located, but in some cases references may be found in the counties where the owner resided. Land transaction between private individuals are recorded with the clerk of superior court in the appropriate county.

Most land records will be found with the county Clerk of Superior Court. Despite their titles, deeds found in a county recorder’s office may include other legal documents of transfer, such as deeds in fee simple granting absolute ownership; mortgages transferring property rights as security for debts; dower releases waiving wives’ rights; quit-claim deeds releasing whatever title or right is held whether valid or not; deeds of gift transferring land without reciprocal consideration; powers of attorney appointing legal agents; marriage property settlements; bills of sale transferring property that is usually not land; and various forms of contracts, such as leases, partnerships, indenture papers, and other performance bonds. Deed books from before the Civil War and especially in colonial years were more miscellaneous in their contents, even including animal brands, occasional wills, slave manumissions, apprentice papers, petitions, depositions, tax lists, and whatever else the clerk decided to preserve on a convenient page. Through such records a researcher may trace the ownership of land, in some cases for two centuries or more.

Land and property records, combined with tax digests, can be important keys to successful research in Georgia. Surviving colonial and state land grant records of Georgia, including loose, original records not available on microfilm, are in the Georgia Surveyor General Department, Floor 2V, Georgia Department of Archives and History .

The first effective legislation, dated 17 February 1783, concerning land grants after Georgia became a state provided for headrights and bounty-land grants. The law allowed each head of household 200 acres free as his own headright and fifty additional acres for each member of his family and each slave at a cost of from one to four shillings per acre. Grants were limited to 1,000 acres, and the grantee was responsible for paying survey and grant fees. Those who had received grants under colonial jurisdiction were entitled to the lands they occupied when the law went into effect.

The 1783 act also provided for establishing a land court in each county. A land grant applicant would appear before five justices to swear under oath concerning the size of his family and the number of slaves he owned to obtain a warrant of survey. Once the county surveyor completed his layout of the applicant's land, a copy of the plat of survey was forwarded to the surveyor general, and the original was filed in the county. The applicant was then required to live on the land for a year and cultivate 3 percent of the total acreage. After meeting those requirements, the applicant could apply to the governor's office for his grant and pay all fees. At that point the grant would be issued and recorded. Headright grants were made in Bryan, Bullock, Burke, Camden, Chatham, Clarke, Columbia, Effingham, Elbert, Emanuel, Franklin, Glascock, Glynn, Greene, Hancock, Hart, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Laurens, Liberty, Lincoln, Madison, McDuffie, McIntosh, Montgomery, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Richmond, Screven, Taliaferro, Tattnall, Warren, Washington, and Wilkes counties.

Bounty-land grants were made to soldiers who served in the Georgia military, civilian residents of 1781–82, and Georgia citizens who went to other states during the Revolution to continue the war. Most of the surviving Georgia Revolutionary War bounty certificates (except for civilian residents) are abstracted.

A second act of 25 February 1784 created new counties and designated some of the area as bounty lands for Georgia veterans who had served in the Continental Line or Navy. Most of the area that later became Greene County was reserved for bounty-land grants. The Georgia Department of Archives and History and the FHL have microfilm copies of original land grants.

Only Georgia has the distinction of distributing lands by lottery. Lands given to Georgia citizens by lotteries from 1805 to 1833 are in the present western and northern three-quarters of Georgia. Lotteries took place in 1805, 1807, 1820, 1821, 1827, and two in 1832. All Georgia citizens were eligible to qualify for a lottery, although the 1820, 1827, and 1832 lotteries also gave special consideration to war veterans. Published lottery books are excellent sources for pinpointing where a Georgia family lived when a lottery was held.

Where Georgians sold lots won in the lotteries, researchers will find that deeds may be valuable sources of genealogical information. Those deeds should have been recorded in the counties where the land was located, but in some cases references may be found in the counties where the owner resided. Land transaction between private individuals are recorded with the clerk of superior court in the appropriate county.

• Georgia Land Books at Amazon.com
• Search the Georgia Land Lotteries of 1827 & 1832 or Land Grants to Georgia Revolutionary War Veterans
• Georgia Land Lottery, 1827: Georgia began in 1805 to offer land to its citizens through lotteries. These lotteries often serve as useful substitutes for the lost federal census returns for the early 1800s in the state. The 1827 lottery dispensed lots in Carroll, Coweta, Lee, Muscogee, and Troup counties. Search this database for thousands of Georgians who were "fortunate drawers" in this unique land dispersal
• Georgia Cherokee Land Lottery, 1832: This database is a listing of persons allotted land in 1832 from what was considered ""Cherokee Land."" Located in the northeastern part of the state, over 18,500 parcels were distributed by lottery in that year.
• Land Grants to Georgia Revolutionary War Veterans: This database contains a list of all the veterans who won land in the Third, Fifth, and Sixth Land Lotteries of the state of Georgia.
• Bureau of Land Management (BLM) which does not cover Georgia but does cover surrounding states. Many pioneers and settelers bought land from the government instead of individuals.

Georgia Land Lotteries - See the Description of the Land Lotteries of 1805, 1807, 1820, 1821, 1827, 1832, 1832 (Gold), 1833

Seven times between 1805 and 1832 Georgia used a lottery system to distribute the land taken from the Cherokee or Creek Indians. These lotteries were unique to the state; no other state used a lottery system to distribute land. Lot size varied widely, even in the individual lotteries. The largest lots distributed were 490 acres in the 1805 and the 1820 land lottery. The smallest lots were the 40-acre gold lots distributed during the Gold Lottery of 1832.

Many people, including the state of Georgia, combine the Land Lottery of 1832 and the Gold Lottery of 1832 and represent it as a single lottery; however, both the enabling legislation and the drawings themselves were independent, hence there were seven lotteries, not six.

Prior to 1803 Georgia distributed land via a headright system. Designed to prohibit corruption, the system actually encouraged it. During early administrations the government abused this system and created what today is generally known as the Yazoo Land Fraud. These abuses led to the adoption of the lottery system in May, 1803 under governor John Milledge. The first lottery under the new system occurred in 1805.

Almost 3/4 of the land in present-day Georgia was distributed under this lottery system. During the 27 years that land was distributed under the system the rules and the methods of the lottery remained virtually unchanged. Applicants could be white males over 18 (or 21 depending on the lottery), orphans, or widows. Fees depended on the lottery and the size of the lot won, but in general they only covered the cost of running the lottery. The state did not profit from allocating these lands. Fractional lots were sold in each of the lotteries and some lands, especially those near major rivers, was exempt from the lottery. These were distributed by the state using alternate, frequently corrupt, methods

For each person subscribing to a lottery a ticket was placed in the barrel. Since each lottery was over-subscribed, blank tickets were added to compensate for the over-subscription. According to the state archives, no record remains of the people who drew the blank tickets after the 1805 lottery.

Eight times between 1805 and 1833 Georgia held lotteries to distribute land, the largest held in the United States. The lotteries followed a simple pattern:

• The General Assembly passed an act that authorized the lottery and spelled out who would be eligible to participate and the grant fees that would apply.
• Eligible citizens registered their names in their county of residence and paid a small fee. The names were sent to the governor’s office at the state capital. Beginning with the second lottery the names were copied onto slips of paper called “tickets” and placed in a large drum called a “wheel.”
• The land to be distributed was surveyed and laid out in districts and lots. The surveyors sent the district and lot numbers to the governor’s office. These were placed in a separate wheel. (At first, blank tickets were added to this wheel, so that the number of tickets would equal the number of persons drawing.)
• Commissioners appointed by the governor drew a name ticket from one wheel and a district/lot ticket from the other wheel. If the district/lot ticket was blank, the person received nothing. If the ticket contained a district/lot number, the person received a prize of that parcel of land. A ticket that contained a number was called a “Fortunate Draw.” With later lotteries (after 1820), when blank tickets were not added to the prize wheel, individuals whose names remained in the second wheel were considered to have drawn blanks.
• Anyone who received a Fortunate Draw could take out a grant for the lot he drew, after paying the grant fee. If he did not take out a grant, the lot reverted back to the state to be sold to the highest bidder.

1805 Land Lottery:

• Authority: Act of May 11, 1803
• Date of Drawing: 1805
• Counties
  • Baldwin: 5 Districts (1-5)
  • Wayne: 3 Districts (1-3)
  • Wilkinson: 5 Districts (1-5)
• Size of Land Lots
  • Baldwin: 202 ½ acres
  • Wayne: 490 acres
  • Wilkinson: 202 ½ acres
• Grant Fee
  • $ 8.10 per 202 ½ acre lot
  • $19.60 per 490 acre lot
• Person Entitled to Draw
  • Bachelor, 21 years or over, 1 year residence in Georgia, citizen of United States – 1 draw
  • Married man with wife and/or child, 1 year residence in Georgia, citizen of United States – 2 draws
  • Widow with child under 21 years, 1 year residence in Georgia – 2 draws
  • Orphan or family of orphans under 21 years, with father dead and mother dead or remarried – 1 draw

1807 Land Lottery

• Authority: Act of June 26, 1806
• Time of Drawing: August 10, 1807-September 23, 1807
• Counties
  • Baldwin: 15 Districts (6-20)
  • Wilkinson: 23 Districts (6-28)
• Size of Land Lots
  • Baldwin: 202 ½ acres
  • Wilkinson: 202 ½ acres
• Grant Fee: $12.15 per 202 ½ acre lot
• Person Entitled to Draw
  • Bachelor, 21 years or over, 3-year residence in Georgia, citizen of United States – 1 draw
  • Married man with wife and/or child under 21 years, 3-year residence in Georgia, citizen of United States – 2 draws
  • Widow, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
  • Spinster, 21 years or older, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
  • Orphan under 21 years, father and mother dead, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
  • Family of orphans under 21 years, father and mother dead, 3-year residence in Georgia – 2 draws
  • Orphan under 21 years, father dead, mother living, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
  • Family of orphans under 21, father dead, mother living, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
• Persons Excluded: Any fortunate drawer in the previous land lottery

1820 Land Lottery

• Authority: Act of December 15, 1818; Act of December 16, 1819
• Date of Drawing: September 1, 1820-December 2, 1820
• Counties
  • Appling: 13 Districts (1-13)
  • Early: 26 Districts (1-23; 26-28)
  • Gwinnett: 3 Districts (5-7)
  • Habersham: 10 Districts (1-6; 10-13)
  • Hall: 5 Districts (8-12)
  • Irwin: 16 Districts (1-16)
  • Rabun: 5 Districts (1-5)
  • Walton: 4 Districts (1-4)
• Size of Land Lots
  • Appling: 490 acres
  • Early: 250 acres
  • Gwinnett: 250 acres
  • Habersham: [Districts 1-4; 10-13] 250 acres; [Districts 5-6] 490 acres
  • Hall: 250 acres
  • Irwin: 490 acres
  • Rabun: [Districts 1; 3-5] 490 acres; [District 2] 250 acres
  • Walton: 250 acres
• Grant Fee: $18.00 per land lot either size
• Person Entitled to Draw
  • Bachelor, 18 years or over, 3-year residence in Georgia, citizen United States – 1 draw
  • Soldier of Indian War, residence in Georgia during or since military service – 1 draw
  • Invalid or indigent veteran of Revolutionary War or War of 1812 – 2 draws
  • Invalid or indigent veteran of Revolutionary War or War of 1812 who was a fortunate drawer in either previous land lottery – 1 draw
  • Married man with wife or minor son under 18 years or unmarried daughter, 3-year residence in Georgia, citizen United States – 2 draws
  • Widow, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
  • Widow, husband killed in Revolutionary War, War of 1812 or Indian War, 3-year residence in Georgia – 2 draws
  • Family of one or two orphans under 21 years, father dead, mother living, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
  • Family of three or more orphans under 21 years, father and mother both dead, 3-year residence in Georgia – 2 draws
  • Family of one or two orphans under 21 years, father and mother both dead, 3-year residence in Georgia, 1 draw
  • Orphan under 21 years, father killed in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, or Indian War, 3-year residence in Georgia – 2 draws
  • Invalid or indigent officer or soldier in the Revolutionary Army who had been fortunate drawer in either previous lottery – 1 draw
• Persons Excluded
  • Any fortunate drawer in either previous land lottery, except families of orphans consisting of more than one person and such other persons as indicated above.
  • Citizens of the state who were legally drafted in the War of 1812 or the Indian War and refused to serve a tour of duty in person or by substitute.
  • Any person who resided upon the lottery territory previous to the extinguishment of the Indian title to the same.

1821 Land Lottery

• Authority: Act of May 16, 1821
• Date of Drawing: November 7, 1821-December 12, 1821
• Counties
  • Dooly: 16 districts (1-16)
  • Fayette: 4 districts (6,7,9,14)
  • Henry: 18 districts (1-18)
  • Houston: 16 districts (1-16)
  • Monroe: 15 districts (1-15)
  • 37 undrawn lots remaining from the 1820 lottery
• Size of Land Lots: All new (1821) counties: 202 ½ acres
• Grant Fee: $19.00 per Land Lot
• Person Entitled to Draw
  • Bachelor, 18 years or older, 3-year residence in Georgia, 3-year citizen United States – 1 draw
  • Married man with wife or son under 18 years or unmarried daughter, 3-year residence in Georgia, 3-year citizen United States – 2 draws
  • Widow, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
  • Family of minor orphans, father dead, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
  • Family (one or two) of orphans under 21 years, father and mother dead – 1 draw
  • Family (three or more) of orphans under 21 years, father and mother dead – 2 draws
  • Widow, husband killed or died in Revolutionary War, War of 1812, or Indian War, 3-year residence in Georgia – 2 draws
  • Orphan, father killed or died in Revolutionary War, War of 1812, or Indian War – 2 draws
  • Child or family of children of a convict, 3-year residence in Georgia – entitled in the same manner as orphans
• Persons Excluded
  • Any fortunate drawer in any previous land lottery.
  • Citizens of the state who volunteered or were legally drafted during the War of 1812 or Indian War and refused to serve a tour of duty in person or by substitute.
  • Any convict in the penitentiary.
  • Any tax defaulter or absconder for debt.

1827 Land Lottery

• Authority: Act of June 9, 1825
• Date of Drawing: 1827
• Counties
  • Carroll: 16 districts (1-16)
  • Coweta: 9 districts (1-9)
  • Lee: 13 districts (1-13)
  • Muscogee: 24 districts (1-24)
  • Troup: 12 districts (1-12)
• Size of Land Lots:All counties: 202 ½ acres
• Grant Fee: $18.00 per Land Lot
• Person Entitled to Draw
  • Bachelor, 18 years or over, 3-year residence in Georgia, citizen of United States - 1 draw
  • Married man with wife or son under 18 years or unmarried daughter, 3-year residence in Georgia, citizen of United States – 2 draws
  • Widow, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
  • Wife and/or child, 3-year residence in Georgia, husband and/or father absent from state for 3 years – 1 draw
  • Family (one or two ) of orphans under 18 years whose father is dead, 3-year residence in state or since birth – 1 draw
  • Family (three or more) of orphans under 18 years, 3-year residence in state or since birth – 2 draws
  • Widow, husband killed in Revolutionary War, War of 1812, or Indian War, 3-year residence in Georgia – 2 draws
  • Orphan, father killed in Revolutionary War, War of 1812 or Indian War - 2 draws
  • Wounded or disabled veteran of War of 1812 or Indian War, unable to work - 2 draws
  • Veteran of Revolutionary War – 2 draws
  • Veteran of Revolutionary War who had been a fortunate drawer in any previous Lottery – 1 draw
  • Child or children of convict, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
  • Male idiots, lunatics or insane, deaf and dumb, or blind, over 10 years and under 18 years, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
  • Female idiots, insane or lunatics, deaf and dumb, or blind, over 10 years, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
  • Family (one or two) of illegitimates under 18 years, residence since birth in Georgia – 1 draw
  • Family (three or more) of illegitimates under 18 years, residence since birth in Georgia – 2 draws
  • Child or children of a convict whose father had not drawn in any of the former land lotteries – entitled to a draw or draws in the same manner they would be entitled if they were orphans
• Persons Excluded
  • Any fortunate drawer in any previous Land Lottery.
  • Citizens who volunteered or were legally drafted in the War of 1812 or the Indian War and who refused to serve a tour of duty in person or by substitute.
  • Anyone who may have deserted from military service.
  • Any tax defaulter or absconded for debt.
  • Any convict in the penitentiary.

1832 Land Lottery

• Authority: Act of December 21, 1830; Act of December 24, 1831
• Year of Drawing: 1832
• Counties
  The original Cherokee Indian territory became Cherokee County by an Act of December 26, 1831. A law passed on December 3, 1832, divided original Cherokee County into ten counties: Cass (renamed Bartow), Cherokee, Cobb, Floyd, Forsyth, Gilmer, Lumpkin, Murray, Paulding, and Union. In the drawing of tickets and in the granting of the land, the area was treated only as Cherokee territory. It was divided between land lots distributed by the sixth land lottery and “gold” lots that were distributed by the seventh land lottery.
• Sections and Land Districts
  The territory was so expansive that Cherokee County was divided into four sections, and each section was divided into districts. There were a total of 60 land districts, and each was divided into land lots. Fractional lots of 100 acres and more were counted as whole lots.
  • First Section: Districts 6-10, 16-19.
  • Second Section: Districts 4-14, 20, 22-27
  • Third Section: Districts 5-16
  • Fourth Section: Districts 4-15, 18-19
• Size of Land Lots:160 acres
• Grant Fee:$18.00 per Land Lot
• Person Entitled to Draw
  • Bachelor, 18 years or over, 3-year residence in Georgia, citizen of the United States – 1 draw
  • Married man with wife and/or minor son under 18 and/or unmarried daughter, 3-year residence in Georgia, citizen of United States – 2 draws
  • Widow, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
  • Wife and/or child, 3-year residence in Georgia, of husband and/or father absent from state for 3 years – 1 draw
  • Family (one or two) of orphans under 18 years, residence since birth in state – 1 draw
  • Family (three or more) of orphans under 18 years, residence since birth in state – 2 draws
  • Widow, husband killed or died in Revolutionary War, War of 1812, or Indian Wars, 3-year residence in Georgia – 2 draws
  • Orphan, father killed in Revolutionary War, War of 1812, or Indian War – 2 draws
  • Wounded or disabled veteran of War of 1812 or Indian Wars, unable to work – 2 draws
  • Veteran of Revolutionary War – 2 draws
  • Veteran of Revolutionary War who had been a fortunate drawer in any previous lottery – 1 draw
  • Child or children of a convict, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
  • Male idiots, lunatics or insane, deaf and dumb, or blind, over 10 years and under 18 years, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
  • Female idiots, insane or lunatics or deaf and dumb or blind, over 10 years, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
  • Family (one or two) of illegitimates under 18 years, residence since birth in Georgia – 1 draw
  • Family (three or more) of illegitimates under 18 years, residence since birth in Georgia – 2 draws
• Persons Excluded
  • Any fortunate drawer in any previous land lottery who has taken out a grant of said land lot.
  • Any person who mined—or caused to be mined—gold, silver, or other metal in the Cherokee territory since June 1, 1830.
  • Any person who has taken up residence in Cherokee territory.
  • Any person who is a member of or concerned with “a horde of Thieves known as the Pony Club.”
  • Any person who at any time was convicted of a felony in any court in Georgia.

1832 Gold Land Lottery

• Authority: Act of December 24, 1831
  This act mandated that approximately a third of the 160-acre land districts to be laid out under the act of December 21, 1830, be designated as gold districts of 40 acres each and to be distributed in a separate lottery.
• Date of Drawing: October 22, 1832-May 1, 1833
• Counties
  The original Cherokee Indian territory became Cherokee County by an Act of December 26, 1831. A law passed on December 3, 1832, divided original Cherokee County into ten counties: Cass (renamed Bartow), Cherokee, Cobb, Floyd, Forsyth, Gilmer, Lumpkin, Murray, Paulding, and Union. In the drawing of tickets and in the granting of the land, the area was treated only as Cherokee territory. It was divided between land lots distributed by the sixth land lottery and “gold” lots that were distributed by the seventh land lottery.
• Sections and Land Districts
  The territory was so expansive that Cherokee County was divided into four sections, and each section was divided into districts. There were 33 gold districts, and each was divided into gold lots.
  • First Section: Districts 1-5, 11-15
  • Second Section: Districts 1-3, 15-19, 21
  • Third Section: Districts 1-4, 17-21
  • Fourth Section: Districts 1-3, 16-17
• Size of Gold Lots: 40 acres
• Grant Fee: $10.00 per lot
• Person Entitled to Draw
  • Bachelor, 18 years or over, 3-year residence in Georgia, citizen of United States – 1 draw
  • Widow, 3-year residence in Georgia – 1 draw
  • Family of orphans, 3-year residence in Georgia, citizen of United States – 2 draws
  • Married man, head of family, 3-year residence in Georgia (officers in the army of navy of the United States, 3-year residence not required), citizen of United States – 2 draws
• Persons Excluded
  • Any fortunate drawer in any previous land lottery who has taken out a grant of said land lot.
  • Any person who mined—or caused to be mined—gold, silver, or other metal in the Cherokee territory since June 1, 1830.
  • Any person who has taken up residence in said Cherokee territory.
  • Any person who is a member of or concerned with "a horde of Thieves known as the Pony Club."
  • Any person who at any time was convicted of a felony in any court in Georgia.

1833 Gold Land Lottery

• Authority: Act of December 24, 1832
• Date of Drawing of Land Lots: December 6 and 7, 1833
• Date of Drawing of Gold Lots: December 9-13, 1833
• Counties
  Original Cherokee territory and a handful of land lots not placed in the prize wheels during earlier lotteries.
• Sections and Districts
  • Fractional lots of fewer than 100 acres from the 60 land districts and 33 gold districts.
  • Twenty-two undrawn lots from the previous Cherokee lotteries.
  • Tickets representing lots and fractions from the 1832 Land Lottery were placed in the land wheel and those from the 1832 Gold Lottery in the gold wheel. They were distributed in separate drawings. It is likely that the whole lots from earlier lotteries also were placed in the land wheel.
• Size of Land Lots and Gold Lots
  Lots varied in size, but the fractional lots from the 1832 Land Lottery were fewer than the 100 acres specified in the laws authorizing that lottery. Fractions result from irregular boundaries that prevent measurements in square lots.
• Grant Fee: $18.00 per lot
• Person Entitled to Draw
  The remaining tickets bearing participants’ names from the 1832 Land Lottery were drawn to match tickets drawn from the Land Wheel, and remaining tickets bearing participants’ names from the 1832 Gold Lottery were drawn to match tickets drawn from the Gold Wheel.

Hawaii - Prior to 1840 there were no land titles in Hawaii. The society was feudalistic and all land belonged to the king. King Kamehameha I had conquered the entire Hawaiian Islands and partitioned the lands among his chiefs. The king received revenue from the chiefs. The chiefs in turn did the same to persons under them by dividing out arable land among the common people. Under this system land allotments could be taken away at any time.

The advent of foreigners and foreign business methods created a change in the land system in Hawaii. This transitional period was called the “Great Mahele” of 1848 which provided the way for the acquirement of real estate. The Board of Commissioners to Quiet Land Titles was established in 1845. By decision of the king and the chiefs, the king was given his own property, and the remainder was divided equally between the government, the chiefs, and the tenants.

This land commission went to the various islands to meet the people and to prepare them for awarding their claims. This involved the hearing and taking of testimony in connection with nearly 12,000 individual claims. An index to these claims and the Hawaiian terms used in the claims is found in the volume entitled Indices of Award Made by The Board of Commissioners To Quiet Land Titles in the Hawaiian Islands by the Office of the Commissioner of Public Lands of the Territory of Hawaii (Honolulu: Territorial Office Building, 1929). These claims cover the period of 1848 to 1852 and are valuable to native Hawaiians for the genealogical material contained in the actual records.

If the claim was approved by the land commission, the claimant received an award, which was then presented to the minister of the interior who issued a royal patent. The royal patent gave the individual sole ownership of the land once he paid an assessment of cash or land to the government.

The Bureau of Conveyances, 403 Queen Street, Honolulu, HI 96813 has records of the original royal patents and the records of the “Great Mahele” of 1848. These records are for all islands, and since transfers were often made between parents and children or grandparents, statements of relationship are often in these records.

Records in this office begin in the 1840s and include the following record types: Grantors index books (1845-1961), with subsequent records on card file or in the daily entries book; recorded deeds in Libers (1845-1961), with subsequent records on card file or in the daily entries book; land court transfer certificates of title; document and land court maps which are called the “file plan”; liens; and private abstractors. This office is open to the public. Many of these records have been microfilmed and are on file at the FHL in Salt Lake City and the Hawaii State Archives.

The state archives has a “land file” of letters and documents dating from the 1830s regardless of the office concerned. The “land file” covers the period of 1830 to 1900, is filed chronologically, and is one of the most completely translated and indexed group of records in the archives. This collection consists of letters addressed to the Commission to Quiet Land Titles, award books, testimony, and registers of the land documents.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources, 1151 Punchbowl Street, Honolulu, HI 96813, has many early land records of Hawaii including: award books (1836-55); patents (1847-1961); foreign testimonies (1846-62); native testimonies (1844-54); native registers (1846-48); and patents upon confirmation of land commission (1847-1961). These are also on microfilm in Salt Lake City.

Idaho - Idaho was a public land state, created from land that was public domain. The federal government administered most of the land that was settled through the Government Land Office, which became the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). These land offices kept records of each land entry, including tract books and township plats. Tract books are records of transactions for each section of land. Township plat books are maps of land entries for each township.

Records for the BLM are on file at the National Archives/ Pacific-Northwest Region (see Introduction), and the BLM Office at 3380 Americana Terrace, Boise, ID 83706. These land records cover the years 1868 to 1910. The following land office records are on microfiche in Seattle: Boise Land Office (1868-1910); Oxford Land Office (1879-1908); Oxford-Blackfoot Land Office (1879-1901); Blackfoot Land Office (1884-1940); Coeur d'Alene Land Office (1885-1908), Hailey Land Office (1883-1940), Lewiston (1874-1908); and Unidentified Land Office Records (1878-1917). Also on file, are records for the Office of Surveyor General of Idaho (1913-50). There were two types of land entries in Idaho, cash entries and homesteads. For a more detailed discussion of these two land entries see Washington State—Land Records.

The above land office records include letters sent and received by state offices and suboffices, case files, township tract books, survey plats, registers, indexes of declaratory statements, entries, receipts, certificates for homesteads, mineral, and timber culture lands.

The custodian of land records on the county level in Idaho is the county recorder. The originals of these county records are on file at the local county courthouses. Many records in Idaho's county courthouses are microfilmed and available through the FHL.

Illinois - In 1791 a special act of Congress gave 400 acres to those who were heads of families in the year 1783 at Vincennes or in the Illinois country. This included the region west of Vincennes, Indiana, across the Wabash River. A later act in 1813 provided pre-emption rights to land occupied in the state.
But the major land disbursements in Illinois occurred based on its status as a public-domain state. The first General Land Office opened at Kaskaskia in 1804 and began selling land ten years later. There were a total of ten land districts. The BLM Eastern States Office has patents, tract books, and township plats. Land-entry case files are at the National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Sale of public land was first conducted under a credit system, which proved to be unmanageable. Many purchasers overextended their ability to pay. In April of 1820 the credit system was abolished, requiring full payment for land at time of purchase. The same legislation reduced the minimum purchase from 160 acres to eighty acres and the minimum price per acre from $2.00 to $1.25. Several acts of Congress provided for further credit and extensions on the previously unpaid accounts.

In some counties there are county recorders to register all property transactions. Smaller counties give the responsibility to the county clerk. Land records usually have grantor and grantee indexes, with property records beginning with the creation of the county. Illinois Central Railroad land records are in the appropriate county courthouses.

Land Sale Records - The Archives has compiled the Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales Database which is a searchable database of more than 500,000 first sales of the public domain by the federal government to individuals (R.G. 952.000). Subsequent sales of land are recorded in deed records. The Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD) system does hold deed records for many counties in Illinois. Search the IRAD local governmental records database for the term deed to get a listing of all deed records held by IRAD. Researchers should contact the county recorder's office in the county where the land was bought or sold if IRAD does not have deed records for that county.

Indiana -  Indiana is a public-domain state. Following a 1795 treaty with the native residents, the first strip of land was surveyed in southeastern Indiana. In 1801 the Cincinnati Land Office was opened, the first such office to serve Indiana. Vincennes opened in 1807. Five additional land offices opened as demand increased, principally, following the conclusion of the War of 1812: Jeffersonville (1807), Brookville (1819 - moved to Indianapolis in 1825), Terre Haute (1820 - moved to Crawfordsville before 1828), Fort Wayne (1823), and LaPorte (1833 - moved to Winamac in 1839). Registers are available on microfilm at Indiana State Archives, Allen County Public Library and through FHL. Although not all are indexed, some have been published. Land was usually sold for under $2 per acre, was frequently sold at public auction, and could be purchased on an installment basis. Land patents were issued by the United States government when the total purchase price had been paid. Frequently, the documents recorded at the land offices included the purchaser's "outside of Indiana" residence. Original land records for the years 1805-76, plus microfilmed copies, are at the Indiana State Library, Archives Division.

Private land claims, which are first-title deeds surveyed outside the regular federal system of townships and ranges, also existed in Indiana. The legal description of these lands are in lot numbers assigned by the governor. The parcels of land are frequently long and narrow, giving each owner access to an adjacent river or road. Patents, copies of tract books, and township plats are available through the BLM Eastern States Office. Land-entry case files are at the National Archives.

National Archives/Great Lakes Region has records of the General Land Office for Indiana 1808-76. This includes the cash certificate books denoting completion of purchase of land from the federal government. They are arranged chronologically by land office.

A grant of land was provided for George Rogers Clark and his men for their service in the Revolutionary War. The property was situated in what is now Scott, Floyd, and Clark counties. Clarksville, established in 1784 on the northern bank of the Ohio River and within the grant, was the first American town to be laid out in the northwest. Most land owned by individuals prior to 1800 was either in Clark's Grant or at Vincennes. At Vincennes, between 1779 and 1783, the court would grant land, usually 400 acres, to every American immigrant who wanted property.

The recorder's office of the county courthouses has grantor and grantee indexes, land transfers, deeds, titles, mortgages (and releases and assignments of mortgages), and tract books of original land purchases from the U.S. government. The tract books include name of purchaser, purchase date, location (section number, township, and range), and number of acres.

Iowa - Iowa was a public-domain state with one principal meridian which had been established in Arkansas in 1815. Original land disposition was made by the federal government and its agents. There were nine land districts in Iowa, the first two at Burlington and Dubuque in 1838.

However, over 20,000 settlers were in Iowa prior to the first land sales and thus had no legal title to their claims. To prevent speculators and latecomers from buying such improved lands at land office auctions, the settlers and speculators formed claims clubs to rig the auctions on grounds of first settlement.

Patents, tract books, and township plats are available at the Bureau of Land Management Eastern States Office . Holdings for Iowa land records at the National Archives/Central Plains Region include abstracts of military warrants. More federal military bounty land warrants were used in Iowa than any other state. It is estimated that half of Iowa was purchased with these authorizations. Locations on warrants for some or all acts of 1842–55 are for the district offices of Chariton, Kanesville, Council Bluffs, Decorah, Osage, Des Moines, Fort Des Moines, Dubuque, Marion, Burlington, Fairfield, Fort Dodge, Iowa City, and Sioux City. Other records of the register and receiver are held for these same counties. Records of homesteads including certificates, receipts, and entries, are held for Des Moines, Fort Dodge, and Sioux City.

Following the federal disbursement of land in Iowa, land purchases and sales were handled by the recorder of the respective county government, beginning with the establishment of that particular county.

Acquisitions of the Iowa State Archives that should be of great interest to the genealogist include land office copies of plats based on original land surveys (in color), ca. 1835–60. These twelve volumes, transferred from the secretary of state's vault, totally cover the state and include notes on Indian villages and trails, old roads, and pioneer dwellings. The “Auditor of State Abstracts of Original Land Entries,” 1847–59, has been microfilmed and is available to researchers. The cooperative microfilming project of the Genealogical Society of Utah and the State Historical Society of Iowa have provided the preservation of land conveyances for almost every county. The records are available at the State Historical Society of Iowa's Des Moines research library. There are numerous tract books, receipt books, series of county plat books, etc., available for genealogical research in Iowa. Other references include:

• Bogue, Allan G. “The Iowa Claims Clubs: Symbols and Substance.” Mississippi Valley Historical Revue 45 (1958): 231–35.
• Lokken, Roscoe L. Iowa Public Land Disposal. Iowa City, Iowa: State Historical Society of Iowa, 1942.
  Shambaugh, Benjamin F., ed. Constitution and Records of the Claim Association of Johnson County, Iowa. Iowa City, Iowa: University of Iowa Press, 1894.
• Snedden, Howard E. “Auditor's Transfer Books: A Valuable Iowa Land Research Tool,” Hawkeye Heritage 24 (Autumn 1989): 141–45. The Transfer Books, created in 1866, are sources of property transfers, arranged by land description instead of by grantor or grantee. The entries include the names of the parties involved, the transaction dates, and reference either deed books or plat books (varies with county). The Transfer Books are currently being microfilmed as well.
• Swierenga, Robert P. Pioneers and Profits: Land Speculation on the Iowa Frontier. Ames, Iowa: Iowa University Press, 1968.

Following the federal disposal of land in Iowa, land purchases and sales were handled by the recorder of the respective county government, beginning with the establishment of that particular county.

Kansas - Kansas was surveyed on the rectangular survey system and was first officially opened for white settlement in 1854. Some of the early patent books for Kansas counties have been microfilmed by and are available through the FHL.

Kansas owes much of its growth to the passage and enactment of the Homestead Law, passed in 1862 and effective 1 January 1863. It offered “free” land to those who would live on and cultivate a tract. In order to make a claim, the individual had to (1) be twenty-one years old or head of a family, (2) be a United States citizen or have declared intention to become one, (3) not already own 320 acres of land, (4) not abandon land owned by him in the same state or territory, and (5) intend to use the homestead for himself and his family.

There were four classes of public lands opened for settlement. First, those owned by the federal government; second, those owned by institutions of higher learning; third, the common-school lands; and fourth, the railroad lands. The state was divided into nine land districts, and offices opened in Larned (Pawnee County), Oberlin (Decatur County), Topeka (Shawnee County), Kirwin (Phillips County), Independence (Montgomery County), Concordia (Cloud County), Salina (Saline County), Wakeeney (Trego County), Wichita (Sedgwick County), and Cherokee Strip lands and Osage Indian trust lands. Land was also sold through the railroad offices of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway (headquarters at Parsons, Kansas), Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (headquarters in Topeka), and Kansas Division, Union Pacific Railroad (headquarters in Kansas City).

The Kansas State Historical Society has the Kansas tract books, plats, and tract maps, and the purchases from the Dodge City land office. They also have the land sales of the Sante Fe Railroad (mostly central Kansas) and the Kansas Town and Land Company (Rock Island Railroad) which sold land in Colorado, New Mexico, and Nebraska as well as in Kansas.

After initial purchase from the federal government, land records are located at the county level in register of deeds office.

Kentucky - All early property in Kentucky was historically under Virginia's jurisdiction. In May 1779, Virginia passed an act which divided its western lands including Kentucky County, which consisted of all of the present-day state. Just eighteen months later, Kentucky County was discontinued, and Fayette, Lincoln, and Jefferson counties were organized from it. The only extant land entries for this time are those in Land Entry Books of Jefferson and Lincoln counties, but these include some Kentucky County records. Originals are kept by the county clerk of Jefferson County and are entitled “Land Entry Book No. A.” Lincoln County records are at the Kentucky Land Office, Frankfort. Search Kentucky Land Grants

Like many other colonies prior to the Revolutionary War, Virginia had plenty of land, but little money. After the French and Indian War ended in 1763, Virginia found it necessary to pay the troops in bounty-land warrants. Military warrants were issued for military service and treasury warrants could be purchased. Warrants were issued authorizing surveys of property. The procedure was ineffective for it did not require a survey of the land prior to the issuance of the warrant. Instead, Virginia law required the person locate his land wherever he chose and then survey the property at his own cost. Unfortunately, the surveys were not reliable as most were not adept at surveying, and their attempts to do so sometimes resulted in conflicts in title and loss of the land.

  Original surveys, patents, warrants and grants as well as indexes are filed in the Secretary of State's Office, Room 148, Capitol Building, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601. The Kentucky Historical Society and Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives have microfilm copies of these records.

Land and property records for Kentucky include deeds, entries, warrants, surveys, mortgages, and indexes to these documents. Under the Kentucky Court of Appeals, which served as a court of record, deed books were maintained beginning in 1796. The first twenty-six books are designated as books A through Z for the period 1796 to 1835, although earlier deeds and documents, some dated as early as 1775, are recorded therein.

Within these twenty-six volumes are documents for residents of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, and Louisiana, as well as some foreign countries. Books A through C comprise, for the most part, documents relating to the period 1775 through 1796, but other books also include early records.

When the Green River country opened, a law enacted in 1795 provided that each head of household would receive the maximum of 200 acres at the rate of $30 per hundred acres. The “In Fee Simple” title to the property was not to be given to the landholder until the price of the land was completely paid.

Once county jurisdiction was established, land was to be surveyed and recorded at the county clerk's office. In most cases, original county land and property records are maintained by the respective county clerk's office, but microfilm copies are available at the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, the University of Kentucky Library, Kentucky Historical Society, Filson Club Library, and the FHL. Some published land records are available in local, regional, historical. or genealogical society collections or libraries.

The Secretary of State's Office is the place to start when researching Kentucky land acquisitions. All chain of title in the Commonwealth traces back to Virginia land patents and Kentucky land patents. In fact, all Kentucky deeds eventually trace back to an original patent recorded in the Kentucky Land Office.  The Secretary of State maintains the security and preservation of these historical documents. They assist a variety of researchers such as historians, genealogists, and applicants for honorary societies as well as attorneys, mineral rights researchers, and land owners tracing the history of their properties.  Researching land patents is as easy as determining the surname of your ancestor, when he might have obtained a land patent, and the area in which he might have been located. A number of publications can help you determine if your ancestor was involved in a land patent.

Military Registers & Land Records: Under the terms of the Proclamation of 1763, issued by England's King George III, soldiers who served in the French & Indian War received bounty land warrants as payment for service. The warrants provided the capacity to obtain land patents.  The rank of the soldier determined the acreage awarded by the warrant. The same principle of "land for military service" applied to soldiers serving during the Revolutionary War. Each colony determined the acreage per rank, the requisite duration of service, and the location of their respective Military District. The Military District for Virginia rested in southwestern Kentucky and south-central Ohio. The Military Registers and Land Records site includes information regarding Military Warrants issued to Virginia veterans prior to 1792 and all Kentucky patents authorized by those warrants.

Revolutionary War Warrants: Access information on 4748 Revolutionary War Warrants issued to Virginia veterans or their assigns prior to 1792 on the Revolutionary War Warrants database. View color images from the Warrants Register and all Kentucky patent files authorized by Revolutionary War Warrants.

West of Tennessee River Military Patents: Research and view color images of 242 patents in the Jackson Purchase authorized by warrants issued to Virginia Revolutionary War veterans or their assigns on the West of Tennessee River Military Patents database.

Non-Military Registers & Land Records: In Kentucky, there are four steps involved in land patenting: 1) the Warrant (or Warrants) authorizing the survey; 2) the Entry reserving the land for patenting; 3) the field Survey; and 4) the Governor's Grant finalizing the patent. No title is conveyed until the Grant is issued. The Kentucky Secretary of State's Land Office is the repository for all records pertaining to patents issued within the Kentucky boundary, including patents issued by the state of Virginia prior to Kentucky's statehood in 1792. In Non-Military Registers and Land Records, includes databases, legislation and frequently asked questions regarding patents not authorized by military warrants.

Certificates of Settlement & Preemption Warrants: Access information regarding Certificates of Settlement and Preemption Warrants issued to Kentucky's earliest settlers on the Certificates of Settlement and Preemption Warrants database. View color images of patent files as they are linked to the "Authorized Patents" field on a daily basis. Digitized images of the Certificates of Settlement and Commissioners' Authorizations for Preemption Warrants may be available by clicking the Preemption Warrant Number field. With the permission of The Library of Virginia, the Kentucky Department for Libraries & Archives is digitizing microfilm of the Certificates of Settlement and Preemption Warrant Approvals. Records are added to the "Certificates of Settlement and Preemption Warrants database" on a regular basis.

Lincoln Entries: Research 4763 Entries filed with the Lincoln County Surveyor's Office when Lincoln County comprised one-third of Kentucky on the Lincoln Entries database. (Military Entries in southwestern Kentucky are not included on this database.) Link to scanned images of each Entry.

County Court Order Patents: Research 70239 patents filed with the County Court Order Series dating from 1835 to the present on the County Court Order Patents database. Search by patent number, grant book & page, or perform an advanced search to access information by grantee, survey name, county, watercourse, survey year or grant year. Images of all documents filed with patent numbers 0001 - 08241 are linked to the database.

Jackson Purchase: Use the 1885 Loughridge Map to determine locations within the Jackson Purchase, the only area in Kentucky mapped by the public land system mapping method used by the federal government. Use Jillson's "Kentucky Land Grants, West of Tennessee River" to identify Ranges, Townships, Sections, E/W then use this database to find the exact location of the patent or key in a specific location and see it depicted on the Loughridge Map.  You can also search the Jackson Purchase database.

Louisiana - One of the most fantastic real estate deals of all time was made in 1803 when the infant United States acquired 544 million acres from France for the sum of $15 million. The land of the famous Louisiana Purchase was bought for approximately three cents per acre. Search Louisiana Land Records, Land Claims in Mississippi Territory, 1789-1834

By the Act of March 26, 1804, Congress divided Louisiana into two parts: the territory of Louisiana and the territory of Orleans. The territory of Louisiana consisted of that area above the 33rd degree latitude, and the territory of Orleans covered that part below the 33rd latitude, or what is now basically the state of Louisiana.

The governor and his legislative council used the powers granted by the act to divide the territory of Orleans into twelve counties: Acadia, Attakapas, Concordia, German Coast, Iberville, Lafourche, Natchitoches, Opelousas, Orleans, Ouachita, Pointe Coupee, and Rapides.

In 1807 the territory was redivided into nineteen parishes. These boundaries followed the old ecclesiastical boundaries used by the Spaniards. When Louisiana became a state in 1812 the state constitution referred to both counties and parishes. By the time of the 1845 state constitution the term counties had been dropped and Louisiana became the only state to use the term parishes.

An act of congress of 2 March 1805 gave three important provisions:

• First, it allowed individuals to obtain legal possession of their land or to acquire land. Congress appointed district land registers and opened the United Stated District Land Office in New Orleans for the eastern division of the territory of Orleans and a land office at Opelousas for the western division of the territory of Orleans. Later, for the convenience of inhabitants, other land offices were opened in Ouachita, Natchitoches, and Greensburg. These land districts are still used today for identifying land by districts.
• Second, inhabitants with French, Spanish, or British land grants had to appear before a board of commissioners with their proof of ownership. If approved by the board the evidence was then forwarded on to Washington.
• Third, surveyors were to go to the territory of Orleans to establish a system of subdividing the vacant public lands. By 1807 the United States surveyors had established a meridian and base line. Thus Louisiana land measurements changed from metes and bounds to section, township, and range.

Colonial grants can be found in various Louisiana parishes and in France, Spain, and England. As has been shown, after the Louisiana Purchase people had to prove their land ownership. American State Papers: Documents Legislative and Executive of the United States, 32 vols., Public Lands, 7 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Gales and Seaton, 1832-1861) is the best source for these re-patented lands. A guide to these papers is Phillip W. McMullin, Grassroots of America (Salt Lake City: Gendex Corp., 1972).

The state land office and the offices of clerks of courts in the parish courthouses have state and federal tract books listing the original landowners. These books are not in alphabetical order; the land record itself will have to be obtained from the State Land Office in Baton Rouge or from the National Archives Division, Bureau of Land Management, Suitland, Maryland.

Land records may be found in notarial records or deeds. Each of the early communities had its own notary public that drafted wills, deeds, marriage contracts, and all estate papers. These transactions were filed loosely, and numbered consecutively as they happened, regardless of the type of record. Many of these records are now in the clerk's office in the parish courthouse, some are in the state archives in Baton Rouge, and the Notarial Archives of New Orleans are in the Civil Courts Building in New Orleans. Other land records in the courthouses will be found in the conveyance books.

Maine - Maine obtained provincial status in New England under royal grants from England. In 1677 the Massachusetts Bay Colony purchased the area in Maine below the Kennebec River. The area east of the river became part of Massachusetts in 1691. As part of Massachusetts, the process of creating town grants for proprietors followed that of other Massachusetts towns. All deeds before 1737 for the settled area in Maine have been transcribed verbatim and published in eighteen volumes entitled York Deeds, 1642-1737, available at most major libraries with a collection of New England materials.

Following the Revolution in 1783, under the auspices of the Massachusetts General Court, a Committee for the Sale of Eastern Lands began to survey and sell remaining unorganized portions of the state to help pay for the cost of the war. Land was disposed of in lotteries, a few war grants, tax sales, street grants, and patents. All the original papers for the Eastern Lands are held in the Massachusetts State Archives, and there is a limited card index. Additionally, they have been published in The Maine Historical and Genealogical Recorder, Vols. 4-8. Between 1824-91, the Maine Land Office took over the work of the Massachusetts Committee for the Sale of Eastern Lands and distributed public land after separation from Massachusetts. Records are located at the Maine State Archives and include maps, field notes, and deeds starting with 1794 as Massachusetts's deeds. Land grant applications from Revolutionary War veterans are also available.
Land transactions are recorded on the county level and available at the county deed office.

Maryland - Land patents (from 1634) are also here, with indexes, as are quit rents (yearly payments to Lord Baltimore, similar to property taxes) 1794-61 (incomplete); rent rolls (the record of these payments), 1639-1776 (incomplete); debt books (yearly compilations by Lord Baltimore's agent, giving the name of each tract and the amount owed), 1735-73; certificates of survey, 1705 to date; and warrants and assignments, 1634-1842. A separate index covers private and proprietary manors as found in the patent records.
Prior to 1683, land was granted to those who transported settlers to the colony.

Deeds, mortgages, and bills of sale are recorded in the county circuit court, where standard indexes are also available. Mortgages were often recorded separately in later years. Films of all county land records are available at the Maryland State Archives, which also has the original record books and indexes of many counties. At some courthouses there are films of earlier records that have been transferred to the Maryland State Archives. A law enacted in 1784 required that abstracts of county deeds be sent to Annapolis. The extant records pertain mostly to counties whose early land records were destroyed, such as Calvert and St. Marys.

Early deeds could be recorded in both county courts and Provincial and General courts. Indexes to the latter for 1658-1815, by name of person or tract, are available at the state archives. 

Massachusetts - Land ownership in Massachusetts descended initially from colony to proprietor and eventually to private ownership by individuals. The colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay were legally based on charters or patents from England to a company of business or trading associates. The general court for each colony, acting as a legislative body, established towns by granting to a group of proprietors blocks of land. The primary obligation of the proprietors was to divide the land among the settlers in the town based on family size, wealth, or both. Part of the land was held by town proprietors for the common good.

Land was surveyed and plats drawn to identify who had a proprietarily share in each piece of land in town. The land itself was not actually sold in the early stages of town development. Having the use of a house lot and acreage for farming included a proprietorial right in the enterprise of the town and to further divisions of town land. Native Americans, with a different concept and understanding of land than that of the colonists, often relinquished their land claims to colonists who found the land a desirable location for a town or useful for hunting, trapping, or farming Successive divisions of town land occurred, since not all the land was divided at one time. As families grew and newcomers arrived, shares of additional divisions were allocated to more people. Influx of the Great Migration period (1630-42), overcrowding, the desire for more land, and disagreements among inhabitants over religious, social, and political concerns all form the development of new towns, and the process of land acquisition was repeated. Those who wished to form a new town petitioned the general court; the land was granted to the proprietors to divide as fit the needs of the new town. Published grants before county formation (1643 in Massachusetts Bay, 1685 in Plymouth) are found among the records of the colony.

When a county system became established, land transactions became part of the county's records. Eventually, land was sold by proprietors to individuals and between individuals. Proprietors continued to keep records on "common and undivided lands" in a town-some well into the nineteenth century.
Deeds are recorded in the earliest records of the counties. A series of abstracts for the latter continues in the revived Mayflower Descendant. Deeds are the purview of the county registry of deeds. Grantor and grantee indexes are available, and sometimes the location (or town) and date of recording are listed in the index, although this practice is not uniform. The first fourteen volumes of Suffolk County deeds published has, in addition to the grantor and grantee indexes, an every-name index for deeds from 1640-1799 located at its registry office. This index is a consolidation of names other than grantor/grantee found in the deeds, such as witnesses and abutters.

In New England fashion, deeds generally indicate the residence of both sets of parties and describe the land in either lot numbers, divisions, metes and bounds, or abutters-sometimes all four. There are conveyances for property, personal possessions, pews in churches, sale and manumissions of slaves, indentures, mortgages, pre-nuptial agreements, and dower rights. Some conveyances for cemetery plots can be found in nineteenth- and twentieth-century transactions.

Deeds are available at the relevant county seat. There is usually a general deed index across deed books, although early deed books may also have their own index in each volume. While the usual location for deeds is the county seat, larger counties were later divided up into districts to make the registry more convenient to the seller. The FHL also has microfilm copies of early through mid nineteenth-century deeds.

Michigan - Private land claims based on grants made prior to U.S. sovereignty are found for Mackinac and Detroit. These records are in the National Archives. Most were "ribbon farms," very narrow but very long to ensure river frontage.

The first public-domain land was purchased by settlers in Michigan in 1818. The Ordinance of 1785 had provided the methods for dividing and selling the recently ceded regions. The land was first surveyed into six-mile-square townships, each containing thirty-six sections. The townships were surveyed from an east-west line called a "base line" and a north-south line called a "principal meridian." These public domain lands were offered, at the first land office, in Detroit, for $2 per acre, with a minimum purchase required. "Installment plans" were available. In 1820 the cost per acre was lowered to $1.25, with "cash only" and a minimum purchase of eighty acres. Land was usually paid for with silver, gold, bank notes, or drafts. A "patent," usually signed by a clerk, for the U.S. president, would be sent to the landowner, giving title to the previously federal property. A "pre-emption law" in 1841 gave the "squatters" the right to purchase 160 acres at a minimum price.

Microfilm copies of the federal land patent records are at the Michigan State Library. These provide information on the first ownership of all federal lands in the state. The Office of the Great Seal, Department of State, 717 West Allegan, Lansing, Michigan 48918, has the original state land patent records. It is necessary to have an exact legal description of the property to utilize either of these valuable sources.
The State Archives of Michigan has numerous records of land transactions. They include the following sources of information (not inclusive) under various departments: tract books of swamp lands purchases, original maps prepared by federal surveyors that show cultural and physical features as they existed between about 1815 and 1855, abstracts of land grants ca. 1837-1900, surveys of private claims as early as 1807, and land tract books from 1818-1962.

Subsequent land transactions, no longer under federal control, are recorded in the appropriate county register of deed's office. Deeds for southeastern Michigan's "Toledo Strip", encompassing portions of Monroe, Lenawee, and Hillsdale counties, may have been recorded in Ohio and Michigan. 

Minnesota - Minnesota is a public-domain state, with twelve General Land Office districts, the first opening in 1848 at Falls Saint Croix River, Wisconsin. However, pioneers were staking their claims long before that. Immediately following the tribal treaties of 1838, the European settlers built homes and sawmills, logged the white pine, and generally took possession of land that was not legally available. The federal government was, apparently, exceedingly slow to begin land surveys in the territory. The pressure of settlers and investors finally resulted in that process in 1847. The Pre-Emption Act of 1841 allowed home-seekers to purchase up to 160 acres of surveyed public lands at $1.25 per acre.

Numerous land records are held by the Minnesota Historical Society including: records of the state auditor; land department's state land sale correspondence, sales and accounting records; and U.S. General Land Office files comprised of correspondence, accounting records, and location records (which include homestead records and pre-emption sales). The earliest records are for the Stillwater district, beginning in 1848. The Minnesota Historical Society Research Center also has duplicates of the records of the U.S. Surveyor General's Office and a list of lands allotted to the White Earth Reservation in 1901. A Guide to the Records of Minnesota's Public Lands (St. Paul, Minn.: Minnesota Historical Society, 1985), by George Kinney and Lydia Lucas, indicates holdings at the research center.

At the county level in Minnesota, land records are kept by the county recorder. This office will have deed and mortgage records, grantor-grantee indexes, township and village plats, and various records pertaining to power of attorney, contracts, and leases.

Mississippi - At different times, early Mississippi land records were granted by four different jurisdictions: France, Britain, Spain, and the state of Georgia. These four all owned parts of Mississippi before the area became part of the United States in 1798. Ownership of land based on a grant from a former jurisdiction is called a private land claim, and each landowner of these claims was required to file it with the federal government after Mississippi came under U.S. jurisdiction. These private land claim records are on microfilm (RG 28 SG 1) at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and can be accessed by consulting the department's guide, “Index to Private Claims and Field Notes in Mississippi.”

Most land records will be found with the county Chancery Court Clerk’s office. Despite their titles, deeds found in a county Chancery Court Clerk’s office may include other legal documents of transfer, such as deeds in fee simple granting absolute ownership; mortgages transferring property rights as security for debts; dower releases waiving wives’ rights; quit-claim deeds releasing whatever title or right is held whether valid or not; deeds of gift transferring land without reciprocal consideration; powers of attorney appointing legal agents; marriage property settlements; bills of sale transferring property that is usually not land; and various forms of contracts, such as leases, partnerships, indenture papers, and other performance bonds. Deed books from before the Civil War and especially in colonial years were more miscellaneous in their contents, even including animal brands, occasional wills, slave manumissions, apprentice papers, petitions, depositions, tax lists, and whatever else the clerk decided to preserve on a convenient page. Through such records a researcher may trace the ownership of land, in some cases for two centuries or more.

   Mississippi is a public land state, which means that initial (first-grant) disposition of public owned land after 1798 became the responsibility of the federal government under the GLO (now BLM). Kinds of records contained here are field notes and surveys, tract books, official monthly abstracts, patents, and entry records. For the individual buying land directly from the United States government, the transaction was recorded in local federal land offices, and the legal description was entered into tract books. Mississippi's eight land office districts and the chronological periods of operation within the state of Mississippi were the following:

• St. Stephens (or district east of the Pearl River) (26 December 1806–17) was the first opened land office district, and it was the first closed. The district was located in what is now Washington County, Alabama. Transactions covered those for the southeastern district, including land Georgia ceded to the federal government in 1798 and 1802. Augusta became the land office serving the area.
• The Washington land office (Adams County) (or district west of the Pearl River) (1807–61) covered land including Choctaw sales of individual reserves.
• The federal land office at Huntsville, Alabama (1810–present), was created for the purpose of managing those lands acquired by treaties with the Chickasaw in 1805 and Cherokee in 1806, the office is located in Madison County, Alabama.
• Between 1827–36, the Jackson land office (Hinds County) (1823–27, 1836–61, 1866–1925) was located at Mt. Salus and regulated land sales in west-central Mississippi.
• The office at August (Perry County) (1820–59) was moved to Paulding (Jasper County) in 1860–61, having jurisdiction over lands in the lower portion of east-central Mississippi.
• The Columbus district (Lowndes County) (1833–61) encompassed lands in the northern portion of east-central Mississippi.
• The Chocchuma land office (now Grenada County) (1833–40) was located in the Choctaw District on the Yalobusha River. It moved to Grenada after 1840 where it continued operating until 1860, serving land in the vicinity of northwest Mississippi.
• The Pontotoc office (Pontotoc County) (1836–61) served lands roughly in the extreme northeast of Mississippi. By 1869, all were consolidated to one in Jackson.

When the land offices closed in Mississippi, the land records were sent to the BLM; however, the original field notes and plat books are housed at the Secretary of State's Office. Inquiries may be sent to the Public Lands Division, 401 Mississippi Street, Jackson, Mississippi 39205. This office is open to those who want to do research, but there is a fee for research done by the staff.

   The best genealogical information pulled from the first-grant land records may be found in the various types of entry records. The private land claim, as previously explained, was the entry record which recorded claims to land from foreign governments. Military bounty land was issued as a reward for military service. Credit entries were simply those lands purchased with the intent of paying later, and the Cash entry signified those lands sold after 1820 when land was sold for cash only. Those lands given by the government for specific reasons were called donation entries. Homestead entries were created under the Homestead Act of 1862, which gave certain stipulations to settlers in exchange for land.

   Another type of land transaction involves the buying and selling of property among private citizens (subsequent sales). In Mississippi, these transactions are recorded as deeds at the county courthouse and filed by the chancery clerk, although the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the FHL have large collections of these land records on microfilm, filed by county.

   The Mississippi Department of Archives and History has copies of records taken from both the land commissioner's office (first-grants) and the offices of chancery clerks (subsequent sales). The Congressional Records in the archives provide a considerable amount of information about land legislation including petitions from individuals, land companies, and state and local governments regarding land claims from 1795 to 1872. Located in these documents are also copies of treaties with Native Americans regarding land cessions. Other information is dispersed throughout the provincial, territorial, state and federal records found in the collection. The map file includes extensive land surveys for the area of the lower Mississippi Valley.

• Mississippi Land Records
• Land Claims in Mississippi Territory, 1789-1834
• BLM Land Records

Missouri - Land in Missouri was granted by the three nations of —France, Spain, and the United States. The original papers, as well as microfilmed copies, of the Spanish and French land grants are retained by the Missouri State Archives. Recording by the United States government of clear land titles granted by the Spanish and French governments actually began in St. Louis on 16 September 1805. An index to the land grants (Books A-D) has been published by the St. Louis Genealogical Society, and published in the St. Louis Genealogical Quarterly 8 (September 1975). The original minutes are housed in the Missouri State Archives.

The original records of the United States Land Sales have been microfilmed on seventeen rolls and are located in Record Group 5 at the Missouri State Archives. A complete name index is on each roll. They are available for purchase.

If the researcher knows the land description of the property of interest, copies of the original land patents granted by the United States government can be obtained from United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Eastern States Land Office.
The Missouri State Archives also holds other land records of interest to the genealogical researcher

• An alphabetical index to War of 1812 military lands of north Missouri
• The Savannah Land Grants from 1845 through 1857 (indexed)
• The Platte Purchase records (with an index available at the archives)
• The Land Office Reports, microfilmed copies of American State Papers, vols 1 through 8
• The United States General Land Office Reports, 1828-59

Other records of interest, which are indexed, include the township school lands, seminary lands, saline lands and swamp lands all of which were patented by the state.

Each county has a recorder of deeds. Here the researcher can expect to find the direct and indirect index to deeds, a transcript of deeds, warranty deeds, administrator's deeds, quit claim deeds, sheriff's deed records, index to mortgages, mortgages, school fund mortgage records, chattel mortgages, deeds of trust, patent records, plat books, the index to marriage records, marriage records, applications for marriage licenses, records of certificates of marriage, records of marriage of persons of color (from 1865 to the 20th century in separate registers), and military discharge papers. Note that in Missouri all marriage records are held by the recorder of deeds

Montana - Montana federal land offices were originally located in Bozeman, Glasgow, Great Falls, Helena, Kalispell, Lewistown, Miles City, and Missoula. All of these offices were eliminated by 1950, leaving Billings as the only land office at present.

The land entries for the Montana area from 1800 to 1908 are filed by state, land office, kind of entry, and certificate number. There is no name index prior to 1908 for Montana. To access a federal land entry either the certificate number or the legal description of the land such as range, township, and section must be known. The description can be obtained from the county recorder of deeds.

Public land records can be accessed through the Department of the Interior. Major federal land records include survey plats and field notes, tract books, register's returns, case files or land-entry papers, and patent records. The survey plats, tract books, and patent records prior to 1908 are available at Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Granite Tower, 222 North 32nd Street, P.O. Box 36800, Billings, MT 59107. BLM district offices are located in Butte, Lewistown, and Miles City.

Patent records after 1908 and case files or land-entry papers prior to 1908 are available through the National Archives system (see Introduction). Both the Seattle and Denver centers hold Montana research materials. The case files are the most important genealogically as they often contain military papers, naturalization records, and other documentation.

Subsequent land transactions after the initial federal grant are filled with the respective county clerk and recorder.

Nebraska - Nebraska is a public domain state in which land was initially granted by the federal government. The first homestead claim in the United States was made on 1 January 1863, nine miles west of Beatrice in Gage County by Daniel Freeman. His homestead is now the location of Homestead National Monument. Many of the settlers of Nebraska were Civil War veterans from the northern states of Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa. Many were eager to obtain the inexpensive farm land available from the federal government.

The researcher should be familiar with the boundaries of the early land offices in Nebraska from 22 July 1854, when the first office opened in Omaha, until 1933 when the last closed at Alliance. Two good sources are Addison Erwin Sheldon, Land Systems and Land Policies in Nebraska, Vol. 22 (Lincoln, Nebr.: Nebraska State Historical Society Publications, 1936), and Homer Socolofsky, “Land Disposal in Nebraska 1854–1906: The Homestead Story,” in Nebraska History 48 (1967): 225–48.

Another helpful reference available from the Nebraska State Historical Society is the Reference Information Guide No. 7, “U.S. Government Land Laws in Nebraska 1854–1907,” by James E. Potter. This may be obtained upon request.

The Nebraska State Historical Society has records from the land offices and microfilmed copies of all the tract books. Some of these entries are indexed. If the exact land description is known, land patents for Nebraska may be obtained from the BLM, Wyoming State Office, 2515 Warren Avenue, Box 1828, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82003.

The researcher should be aware that the railroads acquired nearly a tenth of Nebraska land from the federal government and sold it cheaply to settlers to encourage settlement and the development of commerce. The farm, which may have been called “the old homestead” in family tradition, may have first been farmed by this family but was actually acquired from the railroad at an early date. Therefore, it is best to chain the title back using the exact land description in the register of deed's office before going to the federal records. Most of the original records of railroad land sales were destroyed by fire, but the Nebraska Historical Society holds land records of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad in Nebraska.

After the first land purchase from the government, transfers of land are located in the individual county in the register of deeds office. Here, the researcher can search deeds, indexed by grantee-grantor, mortgages, and cemetery record deed books. Some offices hold the register of entries made at the land office in Lincoln under the Homestead Act of 1862. Many abstracts and claims are also located at the county level.

Nevada - Nevada was among the states that received federal land grants. On 1 January 1863 the Homestead Act, passed by the U.S. Congress, became effective. The first U.S. District Land Office was opened in Carson City, Nevada, in 1864. In addition to those records held by the National Archives (see page 5), the BLM, 300 Booth Street, Box 12000, Reno, Nevada 89520, has records involving transactions through Nevada's land offices. The Nevada State Library, Division of Archives and Records, has Carson County (Utah Territory) land records and land patents for the state.

The Comstock Mine's minerals, including gold and silver, were claimed in 1859. The result was the first influx of population into the state that would continue until the substantial depletion of its mineral resources late in the nineteenth century. Mining dominated the economy and politics of the state for a half century. In 1866 alone, there were 200 mining districts that acted roughly as a court system in that they recorded deeds, transferred titles to claims, drew abstracts, and recorded a variety of land instruments. Documents related to mining and minerals may be found on the county level at the Nevada State Library, Division of Archives and Records.

The archives has mining corporation papers, 1861–1926. Those after 1926 are at the Nevada Secretary of State's Office. Other holdings at the archives include state mine inspection records, 1909–74, for operating mines. These records include information regarding name; county and mine supervisor; licenses of hoist operators, 1922–71; and mining accidents, both fatal and nonfatal, 1909–71.

In each individual county in Nevada, records pertaining to land after initial grant are usually located in the respective office of the county recorder.

New Hampshire - All New Hampshire deeds for the provincial period before 1771 were filed in Exeter, or the Ipswich deeds and the Old Norfolk County deeds in Salem, Massachusetts. Microfilms of the first 100 volumes of those filed in Exeter, called Province Deeds, now reside, along with a card file index, at the New Hampshire Records and Archives. The original books are deposited there as well.

Counties were formed in 1769, with each county seat becoming the location for recording land transactions in that county, but in actuality the practice did not begin until 1771, except Strafford County, which, due to delays in constructing a new courthouse, did not commence until 1773. Indexes at county offices are in grantor and grantee volumes, by time period, and often include the name of the town where the land is located.

New Hampshire Records and Archives holds the original books and an index to Rockingham County deeds (1771-1824), which includes transactions in Strafford County for the years 1771-73. Early books of Grafton County Deeds (through volume 16) are also at the New Hampshire Records and Archives, but can be viewed on microfilm at the Grafton County Courthouse in Woodsville. For all others, one can use either the books or microfilms in the county seat or microfilm of deeds to ca. 1850 at the FHL and the New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Because of geographic and boundary considerations, some early deeds involving land transactions in the Cheshire County area might have been recorded in Massachusetts. Consequently, Hampden County Courthouse in Springfield should be consulted. Conversely, it is possible that land granted by New Hampshire in what is now Vermont may be mentioned in the Province Deeds.

New Jersey - The earliest sales of land in New Jersey were by the proprietors of East and West Jersey, which still hold some land today and maintain their records, although those for West Jersey are on film at the state archives. Until the Land Act of 1785 transferred the recording of deeds to the counties, land conveyances after the initial grants from the proprietors were recorded in the East and West New Jersey capitals, Perth Amboy and Burlington, and in 1795 transferred to Trenton, where they became known as the Secretary of State's Deeds. These deeds, dating 1664 to the 1800s, are at the state archives. It has been estimated that only a quarter of colonial land transfers were recorded.

At the county level are found the usual deeds and mortgages, with corresponding indexes to each type of record. These records begin for most counties at two stages. Mortgages have been recorded with the county clerk from 1766 and deeds from 1785, and generally one would expect to find such records for all counties established by these dates. There is, however, some variance, and some counties recorded deeds in earlier years. At least two counties, Hudson and Passaic, have abstracts of deeds pre-dating the formation of the county that pertain to lands previously in parent counties. Microfilm of deeds, recorded about 1900, and mortgages, to about 1850, for almost all New Jersey counties are available at the New Jersey State Archives. Also with the county clerk are divisions or partitions of lands that include descriptions and often maps showing how the real property of a person who died intestate was divided among his or her heirs. Many unrecorded deeds are found at the state archives, the New Jersey Historical Society, Rutgers, and in several local historical societies.

New Mexico - When New Mexico became a part of the United States, the land laws applied to it just as they did to the other more established states. New Mexico was admitted as a territory on 9 September 1850 and became a state on 6 January 1912.

The New Mexico State Records Center and Archives has large holdings of land records going back to 1693. Spanish land grants date from that time and continue to 1821. Mexican land holdings begin in 1821 and go to 1845. These original records are in Spanish but some have been translated.

Information regarding homestead lands for New Mexico is located at the Bureau of Land Management, the Department of the Interior, Field Office, South Federal Place, P.O. Box 1449, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-1449.

In addition, there are deed books from 1850 to 1912 for most of the counties. There are also numerous mining deeds from 1850 to 1920. Both sets of deeds are indexed. Land records are also obtained in the respective counties where complete records are maintained by the county clerk for those people having business in a particular county.

New York - Colonial and state government records of patents, grants, and deeds are at the New York State Archives and identified in Public Records Relating to Land in New York State. See also Calendar of N.Y. Colonial Manuscripts Indorsed Land Papers...1643-1803. The Secretary of State Deeds, dating from colonial times and including many private conveyances up to about 1775 (fewer to about 1830), are on microfilm at the state archives and the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, with the usual grantor and grantee indexes. An Essay Towards an Improved Register of Deeds, City and County of New York to December 31, 1799 "Inclusive" indexes those Secretary of States Deeds pertaining to New York City property.

Abstracts of early deeds for Kings and Westchester counties have been published in The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, beginning in volumes 48 and 50 respectively. Landholders of Northeastern New York, 1739-1802 , covers the counties of Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Warren, and Washington.

Bounty land in the central part of the state was awarded by lottery to New York Revolutionary War soldiers, although most sold their allotments rather than settle on them. The successful drawers are listed in The Balloting Book, and Other Documents Relating to Military Bounty Lands in the State of New York.
In the counties are deeds and mortgages and corresponding indexes to each type of record (published indexes covering into the nineteenth century are available for New York and Albany counties). These records in the county clerk's offices begin mostly with the formation of the county, but many colonial deeds were recorded in town records. Also, many land transactions were not recorded in earlier times since it was a long way to the courthouse, or the family moved on before the document could get recorded. Furthermore, with some New York lands in dispute, deed holders were reluctant to bring them in for recording. Sometimes deeds were recorded in the neighboring county, as its courthouse was closer to the party or parties involved. Many early New Yorkers simply leased land from individuals or families who held vast acreage. Evidence of residency in those cases might be found in the private papers of manorial families such as the Livingstons, Van Rensselaers, and Van Cortlandts. Unfortunately, there is no guide to the location of all manorial records. The Livingston papers are available at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, New York, and are on film at the FHL, and the Van Rensselaer papers are in the state library in Albany.

North Carolina - The availability of land helped attract settlers to North Carolina. Until the border survey was begun in 1728, grants of land in North Carolina occasionally were made by Virginia. Surviving Virginia grants may be found in Nell Marion Nugent, Cavaliers and Pioneers : Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants, 3 vols. (1934; reprint, Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1983).

The process of patenting land in North Carolina was not complex. The person wishing to patent land first made application, also called a land entry, to a land office. The land officer then issued a warrant. Land officers included the secretary of state (1669–1776), the agents of Earl Granville (1748–76), or the county entry taker (1778–present). The warrant was taken to a surveyor who surveyed the land and sketched a plat (map) of the claim. The plat was then filed in the land office or, after 1777, recorded by the county register of deeds, and a patent for the land was issued and recorded. The land grants of North Carolina are indexed in the Master Card File Index to North Carolina Land Grants, 1679–1959, available from the Land Grant Office, Office of the Secretary of State, 300 North Salisbury Street, Raleigh, North Carolina 27603. When writing, furnish the full name of the grantee and the county in which the grant was made.

During the proprietary period (1663–1729) the Lords Proprietors relied on a headright system to distribute land grants. The standard headright of fifty acres per person established in Virginia was adopted in the Carolinas about 1697; before that time a sliding scale was used that granted one hundred acres to heads of families but only six acres to women servants when their terms expired. The governor also was allowed to sell tracts of 640 acres or less to those without headrights, or who had used their headrights for free land.

To keep people in North Carolina, the assembly forbade the sale of headrights until the claimant had been in the colony for two years. The proprietary land patents are available at the North Carolina State Archives and on microfilm at the FHL. See Margaret M Hofmann, Province of North Carolina: 1663–1729, Abstracts of Land Patents (Weldon, N.C.: Roanoke News Co., 1983), for abstracts of over 3,400 land patents made between 1663 and 1729. See Jo White Linn and Thornton W. Mitchell, “Headrights in North Carolina,” The North Carolina Genealogical Society Journal 15 (February 1989): 2–11, for detailed information on the headright system used in North Carolina. Seven of the original proprietary shares were sold to King George II in 1729, and North Carolina became a royal colony. Only John Carteret, second Earl Granville, chose not to sell the share he had inherited. The Crown continued the headright system instituted by the Lords Proprietors, but modified the system in 1741 to allow one hundred acres for the head-of-household. The Crown land office first opened in 1735, six years after the Crown purchased the province. Abstracts of Crown land patents are in Margaret M Hofmann, Colony of North Carolina, 1735–1764, Abstracts of Land Patents and Colony of North Carolina, 1765–1775, Abstracts of Land Patents (Weldon, N.C.: Roanoke News Co., 1983–84).

The Granville District, an area that encompassed the upper half of present-day North Carolina, was created and partially surveyed in 1744 for John Carteret, second Earl Granville. Unlike the early proprietors, Granville owned all unsettled lands but had no right to govern the area. Earl Granville never visited North Carolina, but appointed agents there as representatives to grant land, collect rents, and conduct his business. The Granville land office opened in 1748. See Margaret M Hofmann, The Granville District of North Carolina 1748-1763: Abstracts of Land Grants, Vol. 1– (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.: the author, 1986– ), which is a continuing project, presently with four volumes. The Granville land records are indexed in full in the Lord Granville Index in the Land Grant Office of the Secretary of State. The North Carolina State Archives also has a group of Granville land office records in the Granville Grant Card File.

After the Revolutionary War the state of North Carolina granted land formerly owned by the Crown and Earl Granville. A settler could claim as much as 640 acres of unsettled land for himself and an additional hundred acres for his wife and each minor child for a fee of two pounds ten shillings per hundred acres. If the amount of land claimed exceeded the above allotment, the additional land cost five pounds per hundred acres. Most of the state grants have been microfilmed and are available at the North Carolina State Archives and the FHL, along with grants made in Tennessee to veterans who served in the Revolutionary War .

When land was sold by individuals, the transaction generally was recorded in county deed books. Most deed books are partially indexed, but, to facilitate research, most North Carolina counties also have general indexes to grantees and grantors. Descriptions of land follow the “metes and bounds” survey system. Copies of deeds may be obtained from the county register of deeds, but many North Carolina county records have been microfilmed and are available at the North Carolina State Archives and the FHL. Additionally, many early North Carolina deed books have been abstracted and published. Copies of these publications may be found in libraries with genealogical collections.

North Dakota - The State Archives and Historical Research Library holds a few original records of the GLO for North Dakota and a microfilmed copy of the BLM's original tract books and survey plats. The North Dakota Water Commission, State Office Building, 900 East Boulevard Avenue, Bismark, North Dakota 58505, maintains original township plats although patents and copies of tract books and plats are located at the BLM, P.O. Box 222, Billings, Montana 59107.

After initial purchase, the records of transfer of land at the county level remain in the office of the register of deeds. Most land records in North Dakota are extant at the county level from the time the county was organized.

Ohio - In 1787, the Northwest Territory was formed, encompassing all lands north and west of the Ohio River. A Recorder's office was established in each county. Ohio became a state in 1803 and although the state constitution did not provide for a Recorder's office, the first state legislature mandated that a Recorder be appointed in each county by the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas. In 1829, the Recorder's office became an elective position and in 1936, the term was established at four years.

Today the County Recorder keeps and maintains accurate land records that are current, legible and easily accessible. An important aspect of the Recorder's work is to index each document so it may be readily located Accurate indexing makes it possible for persons searching land records to find the documents necessary to establish a "chain of title" (history of ownership) and ensures that any debts or encumbrances against the property are evident. These invaluable records are utilized by the general public, attorneys, historians, genealogists and land title examiners.

Virginia, New York, Ohio, and Massachusetts claimed portions of land in this part of Northwest Territory based on charters granted by the kings of England. In 1778 the Congressional Committee proposed that these states cede their western lands. New York ceded in 1781, Virginia in 1784, Massachusetts in 1785, and Ohio in 1786 and 1800. Both Virginia and Ohio reserved lands in Ohio as part of the cession compromise.

In 1784 the first Congressional Committee was appointed to prepare a plan for disposal of federal lands north of the Ohio River. The Land Act of 20 May 1785 set up a rectangular survey system (see pages 4-5) reserving one section in each township of thirty-six sections for the support of public schools. Originally, section twenty-nine in each township was reserved for religious purposes until 1833 when Congress authorized the State of Ohio to sell these sections.

The following is a list and description of Ohio's land tracts that were the basis of initial government-to-individual transfers of land:

• Virginia Military District. Land in twenty-three Ohio counties from the Ohio River north between the Scioto and Little Miami Rivers was reserved by Virginia to satisfy its military bounty warrants. One of the original nine major subdivisions in Ohio, it is the only one not using a rectangular survey system. In 1852 Virginia ceded all unclaimed lands to the federal government which in turn ceded these remaining lands to Ohio in 1875. Soldiers' applications are filed in the Virginia State Library in Richmond (see Virginia). Volume four (in two parts) of Clifford Neal Smith's Federal Land Series (see page 5) deals exclusively with land in the Virginia Military District.
• Ohio Western Reserve. Fourteen northeastern counties starting at the Ohio line, bordered by Lake Erie to the north, and west 120 miles, including the Fire Lands (see below), encompassed this agreement with Ohio. Records are at the Ohio State Library (see Ohio), although the Western Reserve Historical Society has an extensive collection.
• Fire Lands. This area, including the west end of the Ohio Western Reserve, was given to Ohio supporters of the American Revolution who suffered losses because of destruction of nine Ohio towns by the British and Tories.
• Seven Ranges. Located in southeastern Ohio on the Ohio River, these were the first public lands to be surveyed in the United States.
• Moravian Indian Grants. Three separate tracts of 4,000 acres each in Tuscarawas County were reserved in 1785 for the "use of the Christian Indians who formerly settled there, or the remains of that society" because of the slaughter of nine innocent Christian Indians in 1782 in retaliation for hostile raids on settlers in West Ohio and Virginia.
• Refugee Tract. Located in central Ohio, it runs forty-two miles east from the Scioto River and was granted to Canadian (1783) and Nova Scotian (1785) refugees who abandoned their settlements and fled to the United States to aid the colonial cause during the Revolutionary War.
• Dohrman Tract. Arnold Henry Dohrman was granted this tract in 1787 to compensate for disallowed expenditures and his humanitarian efforts as an agent of the United States for the revolutionary cause.
• The Ohio Company. Over 1.5 million acres were negotiated from the federal government in southeastern Ohio in 1787 by the Ohio Company. But only 750,000 were included when the company failed to raise money for the whole piece (first purchase). A second purchase of over 200,000 acres was added in 1792. Records are at Marietta College Library, Marietta, Ohio.
• Donation Tract. One hundred thousand acres were granted in 100 acre lots to any male, eighteen or older, who would settle on the land at the time of the conveyance. It was to be a buffer between the settlers in the Ohio Company and the native population.
• Symmes Purchase. Known also as the Miami Purchase, it was acquired in 1794 and privately surveyed in southwestern Ohio from the Ohio River twenty-four miles northward between the Great Miami and the Little Miami Rivers. Fire destroyed records, although the Hamilton County Recorder's Office has two extant volumes.
• French Grants. The first grant, in Scioto County on the Ohio River, consisted of 24,000 acres given to the French in 1795 who were swindled by the Scioto Company. An additional, smaller grant was made in 1798.
• U.S. Military District. Bounty land granted the Continental Army officers and soldiers in 1796 containing 2.5 million acres was bounded north by the Greenville Treaty Line, east by the Seven Ranges, south by the Refugee Tract and Congress Lands, and west by the Scioto River.
• Zane's Tracts. Three tracts of land, 640 acres each, were granted to Ebenezer Zane for laying out a road (Zane's Trace) from Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia) to Limestone (now Maysville), Kentucky.
• Congressional Lands. After other sales and grants, Congress had two remaining tracts-one east of the Scioto River, one west of the Miami River.

The Auditor of the State, 88 E. Broad Street, 5th Floor, Columbus, Ohio 43266-0541; the National Archives; and the BLM, Eastern States Office in Alexandria, Virginia all have records dealing with some aspect of government-to-individual transfers of land.

The Newberry Library in Chicago has very good resources on land records and boundary disputes for Ohio. Included in its collection are works on the Scioto Land Company and the Ohio Company, plus the microfilmed Ohio Land Grant Records, 1788-1820.

Once granted by the federal government, subsequent transactions involving that land are recorded at the county recorder's office in deed books.

Oklahoma - Before 1889, the first year Oklahoma was officially opened for nonnative settlement, many nonnatives contracted for labor with the Five Civilized Tribes in exchange for land tenancy. Land records for the nations were filed under their respective Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) agency.

After some areas were opened for nonnative settlement, the common holdings of the tribes were divided into individual allotments to tribal members, with the federal government remaining guardian over the allotments. This freed up other land that was then made available to nonnative settlers. No centralized repository exists for the land allotments given the natives, but original allotments for all but the Five Civilized Tribes are on microfilm at the Indian Archives at the Oklahoma Historical Society. Outright payments made for land in the Cherokee Outlet are included in this microfilm. Arrell Morgan Gibson, Oklahoma: A History of Five Centuries (1965; reprint, Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1981), describes allotment history and details for several tribes.

Land allotments given to Native Americans between 1889–1906 freed more land for nonnatives. The Indian Archives at the Oklahoma Historical Society holds land descriptions and plat maps for some of these allotments, although originals are either at the BIA in Muskogee, Oklahoma, or the National Archives-Southwest Region.

A majority of the nonnative settlers in the territory of Oklahoma obtained their lands through homestead claims. Case entry files, original tract books, and plat maps for homestead claims are maintained by the BLM. Patents and copies of both tract books and plat maps are at the BLM New Mexico State Office, Federal Building, Box 1449, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501. The Oklahoma Historical Society has seventy-two volumes of Oklahoma Federal Tract Books on microfilm that can be used in determining land descriptions to obtain homestead files. These are records of the homesteaders in Oklahoma Territory and a relatively few homesteaders (volume 63) for Ottawa and Delaware counties. Although not indexed by name, but by land description, a surname index has been compiled for each reel. A statewide index is currently being developed.

Homestead papers associated with the claim usually contain some genealogical information, including details such as age, birthplace, marital status, and number of family members, along with data concerning land use and improvements. If the homestead applicant was a naturalized citizen or in the process of becoming one, the homestead files will include a copy of the naturalization papers. If the homesteader was a Union veteran, the file may contain a copy of the discharge paper.

To locate homestead claims in the BLM records which were finalized prior to 1908, either the land description from the tract books (including county, township, range, etc.) or the date of entry and name of land office is required. For claims finalized after 1908, the number assigned to the case at the time that the land was patented is required. It is best to include a legal description of the property. In all cases, the full name of the homesteader must accompany the request for file copies.

A legal description of the land or the number assigned to the case may also be on file with the respective county clerk's office in which the land was originally located. These records are filed separately in the county but are usually fully indexed by landowner's name.

Land was, and continues to be, identified according to the rectangular survey method of measurement. Records from Oklahoma's several local land offices (open from 1889–1927) are housed at the Division of Archives and Records, Oklahoma Department of Libraries (see Archives, Libraries, and Societies).

Since statehood in 1907, the respective clerk of the court or registrar maintains land and property transactions between individuals. Oklahoma land records usually include an abstract of title (property ownership) from the date of patent or first sale.

Oklahoma is a federal-land state. Lands were generally acquired through federal government programs, the Indian Nations, or from other individuals. Land records for the nations were filed under their respective Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) agency. After some areas were opened for non-native settlement, the common holdings of the tribes were divided into individual allotments to tribal members, with the federal government remaining guardian over allotments.

No centralized repository exists for the land allotments given the natives, but original allotments for all but the Five Civilized Tribes are on microfilm at the Indian Archives at the Oklahoma Historical Society. Outright payments made for land in the Cherokee Outlet are included in this microfilm. Land allotments given to Native Americans between 1889 freed more land for non-natives. The Oklahoma Historical Society holds land descriptions and plat maps for some allotments; originals are at the BIA in Muskogee, Oklahoma, or the National Archives in Fort Worth, Texas.

Land-entry case files for government purchases are available through the National Archives in Washington, D.C.. The tract books and plat maps are also accessible through either the BLM in Santa Fe, New Mexico, or through the National Archives. The Oklahoma Historical Society has seventy-two volumes of Oklahoma Federal Tract Books on microfilm. A surname index has been compiled for each reel, and a statewide index is currently being developed. Records from Oklahoma's several local land offices (open from 1889êç) are housed at the Division of Archives and Records, Oklahoma Department of Libraries. Since statehood in 1907, the respective clerk of the court or registrar maintains land and property transactions between individuals.

For further information, consult Sidney Thiel, comp., The Oklahoma Land Rush. (Washington, D.C.: Historical Records Commission, n.d.); and E. Wade Hone, Land & Property Research in the United States (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1997).

Oregon - Land records for the Oregon territorial period of 1844 to 1857 were kept with the territorial recorder. These records are indexed and are in the Oregon State Archives. Early settlers who were in Oregon by 1855 may have received grants called Donation Land Claims. Claims often provide valuable genealogical information such as a person's year and place of birth, date and place of marriage, given name of the wife, record of migration to Oregon, record of settlement on the land, citizenship, and names of witnesses and those who testified in behalf of the claimant.

Under the terms of an act of Congress approved on 27 September 1850, certain white and “half-breed” Native American settlers in Oregon Territory were entitled to land. This also applied to certain settlers arriving in the territory between 1 December 1850 and 1 December 1853. The number of acres granted to the settlers varied between 160 and 640 acres, depending upon marital status and date of settlement. Settlers were required to live on and cultivate the land for four years. Donation Claims, filed with each land office, have been abstracted, indexed and published by the Genealogical Forum of Oregon (see Archives, Libraries and Societies). Indexing is both by name and geographical location. The Forum's published editions are available in many genealogical libraries. The Oregon State Archives has a microfilm copy of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Oregon Donation Land Claim Files, National Archives Microcopy—M815.

Public Land Offices were opened in the following towns: Oregon City, pre-1855 to 1905; Winchester, 1855 to 1859; Roseburg, 1860 to an unknown closing date; Burns, 1889 to 1925; Le Grande, 1867 to 1925; Linkville, 1873 to 1877; Lakeview, 1877 to an unknown closing date; The Dalles, 1875 to an unknown closing date; and Portland, 1905 to 1925. Records generated through these land offices included: cash entries, homestead final certificates, canceled homestead entries, timber-culture final certificates, canceled timber-culture entries, desert-land final certificates, canceled desert-land entries, town lots, Indian allotments, and notifications of settlers on unsurveyed lands to the surveyor general of Oregon. The Genealogical Forum of Oregon Library has a microfilm series of the BLM tract books, plat books and survey notes for Oregon.

In 1862, under the Five-year Homestead Act, Congress provided for a gift of up to 160 acres to persons who would settle on and cultivate the lands and reside upon them for five years. This requirement was reduced to three years in 1912. The original Oregon homestead applications have been moved to the National Archives/Pacific Northwest Region (see Introduction). They contain names of those persons whose claims were canceled. The indexes and record books have been microfilmed and are available through the FHL.

Subsequent land records, including deeds and mortgages, were recorded in each county beginning at the creation of the county. For information concerning local land records, write to the county courthouse, attention “Deeds.”

Pennsylvania - The Land Records Office, formerly the Bureau of Land Records, came into operation in 1682, keeping records about state boundaries, land granted by William Penn and the Commonwealth, and land still owned by Pennsylvania. Of greatest value are the warrants, surveys, and patents, including warrantee maps, all available by mail for a modest fee from their current repository in the state archives.
Search Early Pennsylvania Land Records

The southwest corner of Pennsylvania was contested with Virginia, and many records for this area are to be found at the Virginia State Archives (Richmond) and at the University of West Virginia (Morgantown).
Settlers from Pennsylvania came to the Upper Delaware and Wyoming valleys claimed by that colony from about 1753 to 1782. The records of the Delaware Company have not survived.

Tax-free land in the western part of the state, called the “Donation Lands,” was offered to Revolutionary War soldiers of the Pennsylvania Line of the Continental Army. Also in this section of Pennsylvania were “Depreciation Lands,” sold at reduced prices to Revolutionary War veterans or available to them instead of payment if they redeemed their Depreciation Certificates. The claims to these lands were published with maps in volumes 3 and 7 of Pennsylvania Archives, 3d series.

Most research in Pennsylvania land records will begin in the deeds and mortgages found with the recorder of deeds (who in smaller counties is also the register of wills). Here will also be found the seller and buyer (grantor and grantee) indexes, most often arranged by the somewhat cumbersome Russell system. In Pennsylvania, deeds and mortgages are more often than not indexed separately. Chattel mortgages are also found with the recorder of deeds. Most county deeds recorded to about 1850 and corresponding indexes are available on microfilm at the Pennsylvania State Archives and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Some unrecorded deeds may be found in courthouses, and many have found their way from private hands into archives, historical societies, and libraries. Keep in mind that in Pennsylvania, as elsewhere, a deed may have been recorded long after its execution and acknowledgement. In the southwestern part of the state, for example, some original deeds surfaced for recording when titles were being cleared for petroleum rights around the beginning of the twentieth century-some deeds dated over 100 years earlier. In earlier times many clerks were careful to copy German signatures into the deed books. This practice is of particular value as in the text of the deed the name was usually anglicized.

Rhode Island - From the beginning of the settlement, as in Connecticut and Vermont, land transactions in Rhode Island were filed in the town office in either proprietors' records or deed books. Indexes to the records are just as varied as they are in the rest of New England. Some grantor/grantee indexes are by surname only, some by surname and first initial instead of full name. Land was divided by proprietors in a pattern of lots. Metes and bounds were the usual land descriptions when the transaction did not involve an easily identified part of the lot or full lot.

One group of land records was recorded by the colony during the seventeenth century. Such transactions produced a multivolume collection entitled “Rhode Island Land Evidence,” which is located at the Rhode Island State Archives. Volume 1 has been abstracted and published as Rhode Island Land Evidence, Volume 1 (1921; reprint, Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970). Abstracts of volumes 2, 3, 4, and 5 have been printed in Rhode Island Roots.

Some unindexed, unpublished deeds from the 1640s which did not appear in the first volume of Records of the Colony of Rhode Island are at the Rhode Island Archives.

South Carolina - Land in South Carolina was granted by headright and bounty grants. The prospective grantee first petitioned the Grand Council for a warrant . The petition had to be made in person by the head-of-household; he had to give his name, the number of acres requested, and the location of the land. While there was no requirement to request all of the land due to the family, the household had to have as many persons as claimed. Petitions occasionally include names and ages of spouses and children or other genealogically valuable information. The date of petition or application is often called the precept, warrant, or pursuant date. The petitions are found at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History.

   After receiving a warrant, the prospective grantee carried it to a surveyor who surveyed the land and drew a plat, or map, of its boundaries. Recorded plats have important information including: the precept date, necessary to locate the original petition; the survey (or certified) date; the recording date; and a full description of the land, including watercourses and location.

   When the plat was returned to the Surveyor General's office, the prospective grant was checked against other plats to ensure that only one person was claiming the same land. If there were no problems, grant papers were sent to the Governor for his signature and seal. 

   The boundary between South Carolina and North Carolina was first surveyed in 1772, and a final agreement was reached in 1815. Land previously thought to be in Mecklenburg and Tryon counties, North Carolina, was found to be in South Carolina. Records of both Carolinas should be examined for colonial inhabitants of the area encompassed by present-day Cherokee, Greenville, Spartanburg, and York Counties.

• Headrights and Bounty Grants - Headrights were the “right” to free land of every “head” settling in the colony. Settlers who arrived with the first fleet were authorized headrights of 150 acres for every male aged sixteen and above and a hundred acres for every female and every male aged under sixteen. Heads-of-household could claim land for their slaves and servants as well as family members. Settlers who arrived after the first fleet and before 1756 were given fifty acres for each member of the household. After 1755, heads-of-household could receive a hundred acres plus an additional fifty acres for every other member of the household.
• Quitrent -  Once the land was finally granted, the owner was responsible for paying a quitrent. The first quitrent had to be paid within two years on headright grants and within ten years on bounty land grants. The quitrent was a land tax that had its roots in English manorial society where “the land obligations due the manor, such as plowing and haying the lord's land, were computed to an annual money payment. Upon payment, the obligations were `quit' for the year.” 
• Memorial  -  From 1731 through 1775, those who had obtained land were tasked with preparing a memorial attesting to the location, quantity, names of adjacent land owners, and the boundaries of the land. Memorials also included a chain of title, often from the original patentee to the current owner. Original memorials are located at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History . Some memorials are on microfilme at the FHL.
• Mesne Conveyances -  In South Carolina, deeds are often called mesne conveyances, or conveyances, and are recorded in the office of the Register of Mesne Conveyance. Original records are found in each county's Clerk of Court office, and microfilmed copies of most pre-1865 records are available at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History and the FHL

State-land state surveyed in indiscriminate metes and bounds. A proprietary colony from 1670 to 1719 and a royal colony from 1719 to 1775, South Carolina’s gradual separation from North Carolina was recognized by parliament in 1729 and confirmed by the partial running of their dividing line in 1735. Subsequent segments were later run ever farther west, and many settlers unexpectedly found themselves inhabitants of the neighboring colony. Each colony made some grants in the other’s territory. South Carolina had headright grants, which are sometimes in council journals from the 1749 to 1773 period. No other recorded land warrants survive.

   The colonial and state surveys/plats and grants are in the state archive and have been microfilmed. There are separate series with indexes for the proprietary, royal, and state periods. Land office business was suspended all through the 1720s, South Carolina having expelled the proprietary government in 1719. The situation was resolved when George II bought out the proprietors in 1729. In 1731, a more regularized processing of land titles was implemented, with the proprietary titles and claims to be registered as “memorials.” In 1744, this memorializing of land titles was required of all titles granted from 1731, a system that helped the government identify quitrent obligations. Five manuscript volumes of quitrents exist for the 1733-to-1774 period.

   South Carolina land records created before the revolution may refer to the counties of Colleton, Craven, Berkeley, and Granville; these were nonfunctioning but useful as geographical locators. Deeds and mortgages were recorded only at Charleston until 1769–72; and until 1785, such records from local courthouses continued to be sent to and stored in Charleston. Pre-1719 records are at the state archive in Columbia. From 1785 to 1799, there were first seven and then nine “old” districts, where conveyances were stored. About 1799 these large districts were abolished and conveyances were recorded and stored at twenty-four small “new” districts. (These districts have been called counties since 1868.) The need, until about 1769–72, to go to Charleston to record conveyances, the turmoil of the revolution from 1775 to 1783, and the loss of many “old” district records means South Carolina deeds created before 1800 are very incomplete. The original tracts in the up-country vicinity of the Broad, Tyger, and Enoree rivers have been platted and published as Union County Historical Foundation, Land Grant Maps (Union, S.C.: A Press, 1976). South Carolina passed a bounty-land act and established a small military reserve. A unique land source is the state’s Reconstruction attempt to buy land for black freedmen. Some records exist showing whites selling to the project and blacks buying.

   Land and property records are a big key to solving difficult research problems. South Carolina's colonial land records are among the most complete of thirteen original colonies, probably because all records were maintained in Charleston, and Charleston was not destroyed during the Revolutionary War.   

The Register Mesne Conveyance Office has its origins in colonial South Carolina, under the state's Office of the Secretary and Register of the Province. Some records of real estate transactions date back to the 1670s. Continuous records begin in 1719. In 1731, a separate land registry began to show all real property transactions for the entire state. In 1839, the Clerk of Circuit Court was declared as the RMC in each of the state's districts except for Charleston and Georgetown. When South Carolina RMC offices were abolished in 1896, only Charleston and Greenville retained their offices. Outside of these two counties, the duties devolved upon the Clerks of Court.

South Dakota - The original patents and copies of tract books and township plats are at the Bureau of Land Management, 222 North 32nd Street, Box 30157, Billings, MT 59107. The United States General Land Office unapproved homestead files, 1905-20, are housed at the South Dakota State Historical Society as are tract books for land claims 1864-1915. Once granted by the federal government, later land transactions were filed with the county register of deeds.

Tennessee - Tennessee deeds are recorded at the register of deed's office. The county court maintains jurisdiction over the probate and court records, except for Shelby and Davidson counties where the county court handles probates, and circuit court handles civil matters. Dates given are for the first known records in each category at the county seat. It does not imply that all records are extant from that date. County formation is from information supplied by the Tennessee State Library and Archives.

Beginning with county organization, land records are available from the register of deeds at the respective county courthouse. Land and property records include transfer of real estate or personal property, mortgages, leases, surveys, and entries. The Tennessee State Library and Archives has microfilmed county deed records that can be ordered by providing name, date, county, and type of record in the request.

Only a small portion of the land granted in Tennessee was free land, and that was granted to those who provided some form of service to North Carolina. Earliest land records, including early grants issued by North Carolina and Tennessee, are microfilmed with a card index available in the Public Services Section of the Tennessee State Library and Archives. Other holdings include land warrants, survey certificates, and records from county register of deeds offices.

Most land records will be found with the county Register of Deeds. Despite their titles, deeds found in a county Register's office may include other legal documents of transfer, such as deeds in fee simple granting absolute ownership; mortgages transferring property rights as security for debts; dower releases waiving wives’ rights; quit-claim deeds releasing whatever title or right is held whether valid or not; deeds of gift transferring land without reciprocal consideration; powers of attorney appointing legal agents; marriage property settlements; bills of sale transferring property that is usually not land; and various forms of contracts, such as leases, partnerships, indenture papers, and other performance bonds. Deed books from before the Civil War and especially in colonial years were more miscellaneous in their contents, even including animal brands, occasional wills, slave manumissions, apprentice papers, petitions, depositions, tax lists, and whatever else the clerk decided to preserve on a convenient page. Through such records a researcher may trace the ownership of land, in some cases for two centuries or more.

DUTIES OF REGISTER OF DEEDS

The most important function of the Register's office is the filing or recording of documents which affect the legal status of real and personal property. With regard to real property, these documents include deeds, deeds of trust (mortgages), financing statements called fixture filings under the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), assignments, plats, court decrees, leases, liens, releases and many other instruments. With regard to personal property, the most important documents have been financing statements under the UCC and instruments relating to financing statements, such as amendments, continuation statements, assignments, releases and termination statements; however, most of these UCC documents are now filed with the secretary of state and not with the Register. Powers of attorney are often recorded in the Register's office. Also, some official documents (county official bonds and certain official reports) are recorded or filed in the Register's office. The Register notes in a notebook the time and receipt of each document in the order received and maintains indexes of the records of the office. The Register must be familiar with the requirements for acceptance applicable to each document. The prerequisites for acceptance of a document vary with the type of document. It is important to remember that a Register is not a notary and does not have a statutory power to take acknowledgments, as do county clerks.

The Register has important revenue functions, both for the collection of fees for performing the duties of the office (most of which are found in Tennessee Code Annotated § 8-21-1001) The Register must be knowledgeable concerning the many special rules and exceptions which apply to the collection of the realty transfer and mortgage taxes. The Register must be knowledgeable about the required statements on instruments evidencing transfers of real estate or certain interests in real estate and instruments of indebtedness.

OTHER DUTIES - Since office management is an important component of the Register's duties, Registers should know about personnel procedures and both state and federal laws. Also, the Register should have a basic understanding of potential liability, including both personal liability and county liability, and of the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act. Every county official should be familiar with the conflict of interest and disclosure laws applicable to their offices.

The earliest land grants are now maintained and available on microfilm at the Tennessee State Library and Archives. Official copies of all Tennessee land grants are bound and filed in the archives. All known grants are indexed in the master index, which is included on these microfilm reels. These consist of the following:

• North Carolina grants in Tennessee, 1783–1800, including North Carolina state grants. These land grants are also in the North Carolina State Archives (see North Carolina).
• Tennessee general grants date from 1806 to 1927.
• Grants were issued by district land offices from 1807 through 1838: East Tennessee District grants, from 1807; Hiwassee District grants, from November 1820; Middle Tennessee District, from 1824; West Tennessee District, beginning in 1826; Mountain District, opening in 1828; Ocoee District, starting in 1838. A pamphlet entitled “Land Grants in the Tennessee State Library and Archives,” explains the holdings and is available from the repository.

The North Carolina Military Reservation was established in 1783 in the northern section of what was then west Tennessee (present-day middle Tennessee). It encompassed all the area surrounding the loop of the Cumberland River north to the Kentucky/Tennessee state line. A Congressional Reservation was organized on 18 April 1806 in the southwest section of middle Tennessee. The Congressional Reservation's northern border was the North Carolina Military Reservation's southern boundary. The western border for both was that portion of the Tennessee River that flows north. Several published volumes relate to North Carolina Revolutionary service land grants in middle Tennessee.

   Land grants for the area south of Walker's Line (in Tennessee) are microfilmed and available through the FHL. Originals are indexed and housed in the Kentucky Land Office.

TSLA has a printed index which lists the names of individuals who received North Carolina land grants in Tennessee and land grants obtained directly from the state of Tennessee. E-mail TSLA with the name of the individual, and we will check to see if there is a listing in the index.

A copy of the original land grant document can be purchased, once the index has been used to identify the volume, page and district showing where a grant is recorded.

ORDERING INFORMATION AND FEES:

• For a $5 fee, TSLA can photocopy and mail a list of all land grants for one specified surname. This fee covers the cost of copying up to ten pages. The $5 fee is not refundable.  Payment in advance by check,  money order or credit card is required.  Send your request to Tennessee State Library and Archives, Research Department, 403 Seventh Avenue North, Nashville TN 37243-0312.   [GO TO FORMS PAGE]
• Please note that we ask that you submit each search request on a separate form. There may be a waiting period of up to 3-4 weeks before you receive a reply.

• There is a $20 fee to copy a land grant. The $20 fee is not refundable. Payment in advance by check,  money order or credit card is required. Send your request to Tennessee State Library and Archives, Research Department, 403 Seventh Avenue North, Nashville TN 37243-0312.  [GO TO FORMS PAGE]
• Please note that we ask that you submit each search request on a separate form. There may be a waiting period of up to 3-4 weeks before you receive a reply.

• RESIDENTS OF TENNESSEE (with a current Tennessee postal address) will pay a $10 fee to copy a land grant. The $10 fee is not refundable. Payment in advance by check,  money order or credit card is required. Send your request to Tennessee State Library and Archives, Research Department, 403 Seventh Avenue North, Nashville TN 37243-0312.   [GO TO FORMS PAGE]
• Please note that we ask that you submit each search request on a separate form. There may be a waiting period of up to 3-4 weeks before you receive a reply.

Texas - Texas land records were created under various governmental jurisdictions in the course of including Spain, Mexico, and both the Republic and State of Texas. Eleven land districts, each encompassing a number of counties, were established in 1836 under the Republic of Texas, and a central General Land Office was organized at Austin. The first district office was located near the Red River. The others were at San Augustine, Liberty, Nacogdoches, Matagorda, Washington-on-the Brazos, Cameron, Bastrop, Gonzales, San Antonio, and Victoria. A system of land districts continued when Texas became a state with previous grants being acknowledged. Nearly 150,000,000 acres of state public land in Texas were disposed of after 1836. Texas is not a federal public land state, consequently, there are no federal government original land records. Texas' General Land Office continues to maintain its own archives and records division, housing all early land grants including those dated in the 1700s and original grants issued by both republic and state governments. Indexes to the original land records are maintained by the General Land Office, Stephen F. Austin State Office Building, Room 800, 1700 North Congress Avenue, Austin, TX 78701-1495 (512-463-5277). Correspondence requests for index entries for an individual name with arrival date and county is a service provided for a minimum fee, with normal response time about two weeks. Among the various types of original grants were:

Headright grants. Issued to encourage immigration but were not awarded to black or native Americans. Organized in several classes, these headright grants were issued between 1836 and 1842 to individuals and families who settled in Texas.

• Class 1 are Spanish or Mexican grants issued to settlers whose arrival was before 2 March 1836. Land allotted was one league and one labor per family or one-third league for unmarried men.
• Class Headright 2 grants were given to those who arrived after 2 March 1836 and before 1 October 1837. They received 1,280 acres per family or half that for unmarried men with a requirement of three years residence.
• Class 3 grants for headrights are dated from 2 October 1837 to 1 January 1840, with the same acreage allotments as Class 2 Grants.
• Class headrights 4 grants were issued between 1 January 1840 and 1 January 1842; acreage given was equal to that of the Class 2 and Class 3 grants. Those awarded equivalent to Class 3 Headrights included colonists in Peters, Mercer, Castro, and Fisher-Miller colonies.

Pre-emption (squatter) grants. Issued between 22 January 1845 and 1854 for no more than 320 acres. Minimum requirement was residence on a particular parcel for three consecutive years after 22 January 1845. After 1854 the acreage limit was 160 for married men and for single men half that after 1870. The last pre-emption grant was issued in 1898.

Bounty grants. Issued from 1837 through 1888 for various acreage in payment for military service to the Republic. The number of acres granted varies as several legislatures modified requirements. Participants in any battle qualified. Later donation lands were awarded to widows and surviving (as of 1881) veterans. Eligibility was limited to one grant. Scrip, a means of awarding or selling public land, was granted disabled Confederate veterans, railroads, canals, roads, mills, and factories.

Contracted granted. Both the Republic and State of Texas contracted with various individuals to establish colonies in Texas and receive payment in land. Large grants were made directly to contractors, although individual grants of 640 acres were also given to heads of families and 320 acres to single men.

Miller's work, cited below, gives a complete account of the acquisition and disposition of public land in Texas to 1970. Fraudulent claims and legislation enacted to address these problems are discussed in Miller's volume.

A series of The First Settlers in [County], Texas volumes were compiled by Gifford E. White. These entries were copied from originals in the General Land Office and often include maps. Most were published by Ingmire Publications, St. Louis, Missouri, between 1981-84. A few were published elsewhere. The state land office has microfilmed copies of federal land sales to individuals up through the 1900s. Only original sales are maintained by state; all other subsequent sales are under county jurisdiction. See Also:

• Abstract of Land Claims, Compiled From the Records of the General Land Office. Arranged alphabetically in districts, lists grants from Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, and the state.
• Abstracts of Land Titles of Texas Comprising the Titled, Patented, and Located Lands in the State. County arrangement for the period 1833 to 1877.
• An Abstract of the Original Titles of Records in the General Land Office. 1838.Covers headright grants for 1791 to 1836.
• Abstract of All Original Grants and Locations Comprising Texas Land Titles to August 32, 1945. 8 vols. Supplements A, B, C, D, E, F, G, & H. 8 vols. This set is somewhat difficult to locate. The General Land Offices does sell out-of-print volumes on microfiche. The first volume has been reprinted as Texas Land Title Abstracts Volume 1-A. Paris, Tex.: The Wright Press, 1984.
• History and Disposition of Texas Public Domain.
• Spanish and Mexican Land Grants in the Chihuahuan Acquisition. Covers the counties of El Paso, Hudspeth, Culberson, Reeves, Jeff Davis, Pecos, Presidio, and Brewer in Texas plus six more in adjacent New Mexico.
• Abstract of valid land claims: Compiled from the records of the General Land Office and Court of Claims, of the state of Texas.
• Nacogdoches headrights: A record of the disposition of land in east Texas and in other parts of that state, 1838-1848.
• Bounty and Donation Land Grants of Texas, 1835-1888.
• The Public Lands of Texas 1519-1970. Excellent source describing land records and land history in Texas.
• Texas Confederate Scrip Grantees, C.S.A.
• Republic of Texas Second Class Headrights, March 2, 1836-October 1, 1837.
• History of Texas Land. Austin, Tex
• Royal land grants north of the Rio Grande, 1777-1821;: Early history of large grants made by Spain to families in jurisdiction of Reynosa which became ... after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848. Concerns suits recorded in deed books containing the chain of title and lines of descent and heirship for the counties of Hidalgo, Cameron, Willacy, Kenedy, Brooks, Kleberg, and Nueces.
• Spanish Archives of the General Land Office of Texas.
• History of The Texas Family Land Heritage Registry. 10 vols. These are accounts of farms which have been in agricultural production for a century or more in the same family (not limited to agnate descents) and as such are rich in genealogical detail.
• Guide to Spanish and Mexican Land Grants in South Texas.
• Character Certificates in the General Land Office of Texas.
• Stephen F. Austin's Register of Families from the Originals in the General Land Office, Austin, Texas.

Once land was initially granted, all succeeding land transactions fall under the jurisdiction of the county in which the land is located at the time each record is created. County boundaries have changed over time as have county names.By law, all deeds are indexed by grantor and by grantee. Transcribed deeds from parent counties may be maintained in separate volumes. County land transactions, including deeds and mortgages, are located at the respective county clerk's office.

Century farm records for those families who worked the same land for 100 years or more are available on microfilm at Department of Agriculture, “Century of Agriculture Program,” P. O. Box 12847, Austin, TX 78711

Utah - The arrival of the 1847 emigration of the Mormons marked the first settlement of non-natives in Utah. Following the war with Mexico, Utah came under United States jurisdiction in 1848, but from March 1849 until it was declared an official U.S. territory in 1850, it was known as part of the Provisional State of Deseret. The Homestead Act did not effect Utah until the first federal district land office was opened in Salt Lake City in 1869. Both Mormon land holding practices and federal distribution of land played important roles in land transactions for the state. Jaussi and Chaston's (1974) and Arrington's (1958) publications described under Background Sources and Lawrence L. Linford's “Establishing and Maintaining Land Ownership in Utah Prior to 1869,” Utah Historical Quarterly 42 (1974): 126-43 provide an excellent context for researching Utah's land records.

Before the Homestead Act became effective in the territory, land was distributed by the elders of the Mormon church in lots which could easily be maintained by a family. With the creation of a Federal Land Office in Salt Lake in 1869 legal titles were granted to land which had been previously held. Since it is a federal land state, division of property was based on a rectangular survey emanating from either the Salt Lake Meridian or a smaller meridian in the Uintah Basin. For Utah there is a master card index for the cash entry files of U.S. lands sold by the Salt Lake Land Office accessible at the National Archives/Rocky Mountain Region or the Bureau of Land Management in Washington, D.C. (see Introduction).

Although the office was created earlier, the county recorder's deed books did not become the predictable location for land transactions until after 1874. Earlier land records can be found among many classes of documents in the county seat including county court and probate records. But after that date, separate books for land transactions have been continuously kept. Most counties will have indexes for their land holdings, usually referred to as grantee and grantor indexes, although they may not encompass all time periods.

Vermont - Much land in the state was originally granted by either Vermont, New Hampshire, or New York; some were in competing claims. When Vermont declared itself independent in 1777, all land came under its jurisdiction. Consequently, there was no other way to obtain an initial grant of land except through the auspices of the legislature, which first granted the town to a group of individuals called proprietors. The proprietors then met, although not necessarily in the town or even in Vermont, devised a plan for dividing up the land, and drew lots to determine who owned which lots. From then on, that piece of land was identified in deeds as the “original right” of that proprietor.

“Original right” is a term found often in deeds, often delineated as being the first, second, third, fourth, or sometimes fifth division right of the proprietor since not all of a town was divided up at one time. A division usually contained lots of equal acreage. For example, first division lots might be 100 acres, second division lots 50 acres. Some lots were set aside for the ministry, schools, and the governor to use at their discretion, though most of that was later sold in tax sales or leased by the town selectmen.

Occasionally, towns were divided up in a grid of ranges and lots and would be identified, for example, as “Lot #5 in 6th range.” Once the general plan for numbering the lot-whether by divisions or ranges-was made, land tended to be sold as portions of the lot such as “south half of Lot #5.” Metes and bounds descriptions were added later when land divisions did not fall neatly into portions of the original lot. Such metes and bounds descriptions often indicated names of roads, streams, or neighbors. The town is the primary legal jurisdiction for land records in Vermont. Consequently, original copies of land records are at the town clerk's office . Each town has separate indexes for the grantees and grantors. Very few women owned land in their own right. They occasionally witnessed deeds but sometimes were asked to release their dower's right. A few land records were recorded by counties and are available at the county courthouse, although they are primarily for those towns as noted in the Town Resources that have no formal organization.

With no statewide master index or abstract of land records in the 251 towns, this valuable genealogical information has to be searched out town by town, but it can be done centrally with microfilm copies. Land records for towns whose records were extant in the 1940s had those deed books and indexes microfilmed from inception through 1850. They are available and at the Vermont Public Records Division and through the FHL. Only a few towns had lost their land records in fires or floods by that time. The Vermont Public Records Division is always expanding its microfilm holdings of town records beyond those done in the 1940s, and its collection now includes many town records from 1850 to the present. These are not necessarily in the FHL microfilm collection.

Virginia - The original Virginia Charter, granted to the Virginia Company of London in 1606, included provisions for granting land to settlers, called planters, and investors, called adventurers. The revised Charter of 1609 specified that planters were to receive fifty acres and adventurers a hundred acres per share, but that all lands were to be held in common for another seven years. About 1614, Sir Thomas Dale began rewarding industrious planters with three-acre plots. John Rolfe's successful experiments with tobacco led many planters to plant their “gardens” with tobacco. Grants of land by the London Company began about 1616; the earliest surviving grant is to Simon Codrington in March 1615/6. The Great Charter of 1618 divided Virginia into four boroughs and set aside land within each borough for public use. The governor and Council were given the authority to allot land to individuals within the boroughs. Two copies of each patent were made; one was given to the grantee as proof of title, and the other was retained for company records. Search the Virginia Land Records, 1639-1850

Virginia became a royal colony in 1624. In 1627 Sir George Yeardley determined that, as governor, he had the power to issue patents for settlers who met the old company definition of a planter. In 1654 the Privy Council finally agreed, and millions of acres were granted to individuals claiming headrights during the seventeenth century.

The headright was the “right” to claim fifty acres for every “head” arriving in the colony; most headrights were claimed by the person who paid the passage. Headrights of indentured servants may have been claimed more than once: by the master of the transporting ship, by the merchant who sold the indenture, by the person who bought the indenture, and/or by the servant. Headrights could be bought and sold; many people who paid their own transportation sold their headrights for money to establish themselves in the colony.

The patenting process required several steps, and most of those steps generated a record. The prospective patentee first petitioned the county court for a “certificate of importation.” The certificate, often recorded in county court minute books, was considered proof of the number of headrights claimed. The patentee then carried the certificate of importation to the Secretary of the Colony, who issued a “right” of fifty acres per headright. Once he had a “right,” the patentee took it to the county surveyor, who surveyed the chosen land and created a plat. The patentee returned all of these papers to the Secretary, who made two copies of the patent. One was signed by the governor, sealed, and delivered to the patentee. The other copy was retained in the Secretary's office and was supposed to be recorded.

Once the patent was issued, the patentee had three years to seat and plant the land. “Seating” required payment of the quitrent , an annual payment to the crown of one shilling for every fifty acres. “Planting” required either cultivating one acre or building a house and keeping livestock. Orphans had three years after their majority to seat and plant land. Widows could get extensions of the three years by petitioning the county court.

By the end of the seventeenth century, population growth in the colony of Virginia no longer depended on immigration. Native Virginians wanted new land for tobacco, and the crown wanted to expand the colony, so the treasury right was created. Anyone who wanted new land could receive a “right” to fifty acres for a payment of five shillings. After about 1715, most land was patented by treasury right instead of by headright.

Virginia grants and deeds are readily available to researchers, including original patents and land grants from 1619 to 1921; survey plats from 1779 to 1878; Northern Neck (the area between the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers) land grants from 1690 to 1862; Northern Neck surveys from 1722 to 1781 and 1786 to 1874; land warrants from 1779 to 1926; and miscellaneous land records from 1779 to 1923. Original land office records are housed at The Library of Virginia. Many patents have been abstracted and published.

Colonial Wars Bounty Lands: As early as 1630, the governor's Council offered grants of land to persons who settled on the frontier. In 1646, the Council issued patents to the fort captains and men for the lands on which outlying forts were built along with the lands surrounding the forts. And, in 1701, in an unsuccessful attempt to garrison the frontier, patents equal to four times the headright were offered to groups of men who would undertake the defense of the frontier. None of these offers met with a great deal of success.

Later in the colonial period, bounty lands were offered as an incentive or reward to men who performed military service during the French and Indian War; however, the area in which the land was available was closed by the Proclamation of 1763, so it was not until 1779, and after, that the bounty was actually awarded.

Those persons who performed requisite service had first to obtain a certificate showing proof of that service; some of these certificates were signed in 1774 by Lord Dunmore but most came from county courts in 1779 and 1780. These certificates show the name of the solder; his rank, unit, and length of service; the county in which his service was proved (which was not necessarily his county of residence); the number of the certificate; and any assignment made on the certificate up to the time the warrant was issued.

The land granted on the basis of colonial wars service was in Virginia counties and the resulting grants are searchable through the Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants/Northern Neck Grants and Surveys.

Beware, however, that many colonial soldiers assigned their warrant to speculators or others interested in moving west. All records pertaining to colonial bounty land service are available in manuscript form only.

The most commonly recorded deed is a deed of bargain and sale , in which one individual sells property, usually land, but occasionally personal property, to another individual. Such deeds show the names of the grantor and grantee, the residence of both parties, a description of what is being sold, the consideration, the location of the tract of land, the tract's boundaries, and any limitations on the property being sold. The deed was signed by the grantor, and possibly his wife or anyone else having a claim to the property, and by at least two witnesses. Appended to the deed may be a memorandum of livery of seisin , stating that the property has changed hands and that peaceful possession has taken place. On presentation to the court, all forms of deeds were proved and recorded. If the deed was not witnessed, the grantor acknowledged the deed in open court.

Deeds of lease and release are often found in the Northern Neck and older counties. The lease, for a nominal sum, is followed by the release noting the actual sale price. The lease may predate the release by a day, a week, or even a year. Together the two documents make up a legal deed and should not be confused with a simple lease to rent land. Deeds of gift are often found transferring property, either real or personal, from one individual to another "for love and affection." The degree of kinship, if any, between the grantor and grantee is sometimes stated. Tripartite deeds are mortgages or deeds of trust where one party is indebted to another and transfers or mortgages property to a third party to secure the debt.

Under Virginia law, women were required to relinquish their dower rights to real property being sold. If the wife of the grantor or whoever held the dower claim did not appear to relinquish her right, the court appointed two or more individuals to go to her and inquire privately if she did indeed understand and approve of the sale. Such relinquishments were not always recorded with the deeds. They often were recorded later in the deed books and are sometimes found in other record books. Without such dower relinquishment, the purchaser did not have clear title to the property.

Except for a few years early in the eighteenth century, slaves in Virginia were considered personal property and consequently were not usually sold by deed. However, they were often transferred in deeds of gift or were property listed in mortgages and deeds of trust.

Surveys, plats, and processioner's returns are sometimes found in deed books. A plat is a graphic depiction of a survey. Processioner's records describe the walking and marking of property boundaries. Pre-Revolutionary War processioner's records are found in the church vestry books.

Washington - Washington was settled through the donation and other land grant acts used by the federal government to attract settlers to sparsely populated regions and to distribute the land fairly to the settlers.

The federal government donated 320 acres of free land to each single man and 640 acres to each married couple who settled in Oregon Territory (including present-day Washington) by 1 December 1850. The terms of the donation stipulated that the settler would homestead for four years. In 1853 the residency was reduced to two years. In 1854 Congress passed another act providing the same donation land grants in Washington Territory.

Donation entry files for Oregon and Washington are on file separately at the National Archives/Pacific Northwest Region in Seattle from 1851 to 1903. A large portion of the donation land claim files have been indexed or abstracted, and these indexes are on file at either the National Archives or the FHL under the title Abstracts of Washington Donation Land Claims, 1855-1902 (National Archives, 1951). The Seattle Genealogical Society (see Archives, Libraries and Societies) has indexed and published the Washington Donation Land Records. The major Washington libraries have microfilm copies of the Washington Donation Land Records.

Donation land grants can be of great genealogical value because they not only provide a description of the property, but also the name of the person entering the land, place of residence at the time of notification, citizenship, the date and place of birth, marital status, wife's maiden name (where appropriate), and their place and date of marriage.

Other land entries in Washington were based on either cash payment for the land (cash entries, or on conditions of settlement (homesteads). To be eligible for these entries an individual had to be at least twenty-one years of age or the head of a household (including widows) and a U.S. citizen or having filed intentions to become a citizen. Cash entries could purchase any available tract up to 160 acres. After the National Homestead Act was passed in 1862, anyone meeting the eligibility requirements could purchase up to 160 acres by living on the land for five years, raising crops, and making improvements. These records were kept by the local General Land Office which is the modern day Bureau of Land Management. The land office's records were kept in tract books which recorded land transactions by section and township. These records are now at the Federal Bureau of Land Management, 825 N.E. Multnomah Street, Portland, OR 97208.

Land entry case files are important for genealogists because they provide the name, date of birth, date and place of marriage, citizenship information, record of migration, and other data for those who obtained land. Copies of the complete Homestead file can be obtained from the National Archives, Washington, DC. . To request the complete Homestead file, the homesteader's name, state, county, and legal description of the land must be included.

Water rights in Washington are as important as land rights. Water rights applications, permits, and certificates are issued by the State Department of Ecology and are usually recorded by the county auditor. Water rights records issued by the state began in 1917 and may be filed either at the Department of Ecology or the state archives. Information provided in water rights records is similar to that provided in land records.

If an ancestor was a miner, the Washington State Archives publication, “Index to Mining Surveys, 1883-1964,” will be valuable. This publication provides an index to the sixty-six volumes of the Surveyor General's surveys of mining claims in the territory and state of Washington. These are arranged alphabetically by mine name, mining district, volume, and page number. The mining surveys themselves are available on microfilm at the state archives.

Once land was transferred from the government to private persons, it could be sold again, lost by foreclosure of a mortgage, or distributed through death or divorce. Transactions were recorded by the county auditor in the form of a deed or mortgage and can be obtained by contacting the local county courthouse or regional branch of the Washington State Archives.

West Virginia - Much of western Virginia was settled by land speculators who formed land companies after 1744. Companies were awarded 1,000 acres of land for each family they moved into the area. A survey was made of each parcel of land, and then a survey was sold to individuals who received title to the land by patent from the secretary of the colony. After 1779 the Virginia Land Office issued the patents.

Some western Virginia lands were issued in redemption of military bounty-land warrants from Revolutionary War soldiers. While some soldiers settled the land they were granted, many sold their warrants to individuals or speculators.

Original state land grants, sales, and surveys for West Virginia are housed at the Office of State Auditor, Capitol Building, West Wing 231, Charleston, West Virginia 25305. Records on file at the Virginia State Library are also valuable for the colonial period.

When originally patented land was sold, the transaction was recorded in county deed books. Usually, deed books are indexed individually, and most West Virginia counties have general indexes to grantees and grantors to facilitate research. Copies of deeds can be obtained from county clerks or clerks of the circuit court; however, most county records in West Virginia have been microfilmed and are available at the Archives and History Library in Charleston and the FHL. County clerks are not always receptive to written inquiries, but records are open for research in person.

Wisconsin - Being a public-domain state, Wisconsin was divided into a grid of 1,554 townships by the GLO survey crews. The earliest land office was at Mineral Point, opening on 10 November 1834. Land that is presently Grant County, with the exception of mineral land, was available at that time. The local records of the nine GLO district offices are at the Commissioner of Public Lands, 127 West Washington Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53703. Many records of the Commissioners of Public Lands are in the State Archives, State Historical Society of Wisconsin. These include, for example, copies of original federal survey plat books, 1834–58. The State Archives, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, holds copies of all Wisconsin Local Land Office Tract Books, showing original owners or recipients of most land in Wisconsin. The BLM Eastern States Land Office in Alexandria, Virginia, has patents, copies of tract books, and township plats. The National Archives has land-entry case files. See Alexander F. Pratt, “Reminiscences of Wisconsin,” in Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Vol. 1, Lyman Copeland Draper, ed. (1855; reprint, Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1855), page 137, in regard to claims associations near Milwaukee in the late 1830s.

Subsequent land transactions after initial ownership are recorded in the county's register of deeds. Most counties have grantor/grantee indexes to their land records.

Additional information is available in Paul W. Gates, “Frontier Land Business in Wisconsin,” Wisconsin Magazine of History 52 (1962): 306–27; and Frederick N. Trowbridge, “Confirming Land Titles in Early Wisconsin,” Wisconsin Magazine of History 26 (1942): 314–22.

Wisconsin Land Records: This database contains information on Wisconsin (U.S.A.) land records. The database comes from the Bureau of Land Management's Wisconsin Pre-1908 Homestead and Cash Entry Patent and Cadastral Survey Plat Index. Information recorded in the collection includes patentee name, land office, legal description, etc.

Wyoming - Land records in Wyoming begin as early as 1841, although most county land records begin after 1869. All county land transactions are available at the Wyoming State Archives from 1869 to 1970, as well as all unpatented homestead records. Several land offices were opened in Wyoming, the first having opened at Cheyenne in 1870. As additional land opened up for settlement, other land offices opened at Evanston (1877), Buffalo (1888), Douglas (1890), Lander (1890), and Sundance (1890). Records generated through these offices include cash entries, homestead certificates, canceled homestead entries, timber-culture final certificates, canceled timber-culture entries, desert-land final certificates, canceled desert-land entries, and timber and stone lands.

An inventory of all Bureau of Land Management (BLM) records on file at the National Archives/Rocky Mountain Region can be found in Eileen Bolger, Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the Bureau of Land Management—Wyoming (Denver: Federal Archives and Records Center, 1983). BLM records consist of the records of the six land offices, and include land patents, rights, and claims. The BLM office in Cheyenne has records of the grantees of the original land patents.

Most county land records begin after 1869. All county land transactions are available at the Wyoming State Archives from 1869-1970, as well as all unpatented homstead records. Later county records can be found in the county's courthouse.