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Land Patent Search: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Land Patent Flavius Dilts1.png|thumb|200px]] [[United States Land and Property|United States Land and Property]] | [[Image:Land Patent Flavius Dilts1.png|thumb|200px|Land Patent Flavius Dilts1.png]] [[United States Land and Property|United States Land and Property]] | ||
Land patents from 1788 to the 1960s show information about people who obtained the title to their land directly from the government (rather than from another individual). This includes land obtained through military bounty land warrants, land grants, cash entry sales, credit entries, homesteads, mineral or mining, and timberland claims. | Land patents from 1788 to the 1960s show information about people who obtained the title to their land directly from the government (rather than from another individual). This includes land obtained through military bounty land warrants, land grants, cash entry sales, credit entries, homesteads, mineral or mining, and timberland claims. | ||
Several million federal land patent records are available online at the Bureau of Land Management – General Land Office Records (BLM-GLO) site. | Several million federal land patent records are available online at the Bureau of Land Management – General Land Office Records (BLM-GLO) site. | ||
== Value of Land Records == | == Value of Land Records == | ||
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== Jurisdictions == | == Jurisdictions == | ||
[[Image:Federal vs. State Land States.png|thumb]] | [[Image:Federal vs. State Land States.png|thumb|Federal vs. State Land States.png]] | ||
The thirteen original colonies and their five daughter states (Maine, Vermont, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee) are considered state land states. Texas and Hawaii have unique histories and are also state land states. The remaining thirty western states are federal land states. The online BLM-GLO Land Patent Search is primarily for goverment-to-individual land conveyances in federal land states west and south of the original thirteen colonies. | The thirteen original colonies and their five daughter states (Maine, Vermont, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee) are considered state land states. Texas and Hawaii have unique histories and are also state land states. The remaining thirty western states are federal land states. The online BLM-GLO Land Patent Search is primarily for goverment-to-individual land conveyances in federal land states west and south of the original thirteen colonies. | ||
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Land transfers from a state land state to an individual, or later transfers from '''individual to individual in any state''' are found in their respective state or county land offices and are '''not''' part of the BLM-GLO Land Patent Search. Those types of land transactions can usually be researched in the [[Portal:United States Land and Property|land and property]] records at county courthouses or state archives.<br> | Land transfers from a state land state to an individual, or later transfers from '''individual to individual in any state''' are found in their respective state or county land offices and are '''not''' part of the BLM-GLO Land Patent Search. Those types of land transactions can usually be researched in the [[Portal:United States Land and Property|land and property]] records at county courthouses or state archives.<br> | ||
For land in Texas, check out their General Land Office online, especially the [http://www.glo.texas.gov/cf/land-grant-search/index.cfm Land Grant Database Search] | |||
== Who Is in the Land Patent Search == | == Who Is in the Land Patent Search == | ||
The BLM-GLO | The BLM-GLO Land Patent Search index '''only lists people who were actually granted a federal land patent'''. All military bounty land, grants, cash, pre-emption, and credit entry patents should be indexed. Among homesteaders only about '''40 percent''' of initial applicants finished the process and received a legal title (patent) to their homestead. Among timberland applicants only about '''25 percent''' received their patent. | ||
Homesteaders who never obtained a patent because they did not finish are | Homesteaders who never obtained a patent because they did not finish are '''not in the Land Patent Search''', but they '''are in the application papers'''. It is possible to get copies of unfinished applications. However, to see such application papers you must figure out [[Grants from the Federal Government (Public Domain)#Legal_Description_of_the_Land|another way to obtain the legal description of the land]] they started to homestead. | ||
== Using the Land Patent Search == | == Using the Land Patent Search == | ||