Land-Entry Records for the Public Land States

Records relating to individual claims presented before boards of commissioners or other Federal agencies between 1790 and 1837 were reported to Congress and transcribed and indexed in U.S. Congress, American State Papers, Class 8, Public Lands. The reports relating to the Northwest Territory, Louisiana Territory, Missouri and Florida are interspersed among reports relating to private claims for other geographical areas and among reports relating to other land matters. Each volume is indexed by name of claimant. (Call number: Govt. Docs. Serial Set American State Papers vol. 28-35.)

Records relating to individual claims between 1826 and 1876 were presented before the Congress in Reports of the Committees on Private Land Claims of the Senate and House of Representatives. Each volume is indexed by name of claimant or subject. (Call Number: Govt.Docs. Serial Set 1836, vol. 1 and 2.)

BOUNTY LAND DISTRICTS

As a result of act of Congress related to War of 182, a noncommissioned officer or soldier who served in the Regular Army for the duration of the War of 1812 was entitled to bounty land in one of three districts in Arkansas, Illinois and Missouri.

An unindexed volume containing names of soldiers who patented land in the Illinois Bounty Land District, 1817-19 is GENERAL LAND OFFICE, LANDS IN ILLINOIS TO SOLDIERS OF LATE WAR. (Call Number: Govt. Docs. Serial Set 369-262.)

CLAIMS RELATING TO CALIFORNIA

Spain granted lands in California as early as 1769, and Mexico granted lands there when it took possession. Between 1822 and 1846 many claimants filed claims before Mexican authorities in support of claims based on Spanish or Mexican grants.

Records relating to private land claims in California include Expedientes and other records of claims presented to the Mexican Government, 1822-46. A printed index shows by name of claimant the date, location, and number of each complete or incomplete expediente. It is entitled "Catalogue of the Original Expedientes" in General Land Office, ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1880. (Call Number: Govt. Docs. Serial Set 1959, p.859.)

Another research aid lists by docket number the names of 813 claimants, with the corresponding localities, the names of original claimants, and the numbers of the expedients, if any. It is the REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1880. (Call Number: Govt. Docs. Serial Set 1959-1, p.799.)

GENERAL LAND OFFICE AUTOMATED RECORDS PROJECT

This is a series of CD/ROMs which cumulate 5 million land patents from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Eastern States' repository. These documents, dating back to the late 1700's going up to 1908, offer identification of legal land descriptions and transfer of property ownership from the U.S. Government to private land owners. Searches can by made by name, document number, Land Office, legal land description, county, document type, title transfer authority, or any combination thereof. CD's are for Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, and Wisconsin. (Call Number: Govt. Docs. Desk I 53.57: )

CLAIMS RELATING TO NEW MEXICO

Volume 1 of Department of the Interior, REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1885 contains, on pages 535-552, a list of colonial documents relating to grants of land by the Spanish and Mexican governments in the archives of the office of the Surveyor General of New Mexico. This list shows the "archive" number and the year of the document, the name of the original claimant or other person, the nature of the document, and the name of the county in which the land claimed is located. The entries are arranged alphabetically to the first letter of the surname. (Call Number: Govt. Docs. Serial Set 2378-1.)

TERRITORIAL PAPERS

The Territorial Papers are a series of official records of the Federal territories which eventually became states. They are in order by Territory from the earliest, Northwest Territory, 1787 to the last, Wyoming, 1912. The Territorial Papers can be of interest to genealogists in that included in them are many petitions which list names by area. The petitions are for a variety of requests, from rights to own land to obtaining a local gristmill. Each territorial volume has its own index. Few individual names are listed in the index. It therefore may be better to search by keywords such as county name, petitions, militia appointments, etc., then the names will appear in the document. (Call Number: Govt. Docs. S 1.36: and GS 4.13:)