Wisconsin Land and Property: Difference between revisions

Wisconsin is a public-domain ("Federal-Land") state where unclaimed land was surveyed, then granted or sold by the government through federal and state land offices. The first sale of a piece of land from the government was called a land patent and the first owner of the land was called a patentee. Later, when the land was sold or mortgaged by private owners, the document was called a deed. The first federal and state transactions were recorded and the paperwork kept at the federal and state level, while all future transactions were recorded at the office of the county register of deeds. Family History researchers usually use land records from county offices, however, records from federal and state offices may also have genealogical value. For detailed descriptions of land record types see [[United States Land and Property|United States Land and Property]].  

The year 1834 was a good year for acquiring land in Wisconsin. In June, Congress approved two new land districts; the Green Bay district which was east of a line from the northern boundary of Illinois to the Wisconsin River, and the Wisconsin land district which was west of this boundary. By November 1834, the first land offices in Wisconsin opened in Mineral Point, Iowa county, and Green Bay, followed by Milwaukee in 1836. Even before land was opened, licenses to mine were issued as early as 1822. This was because of the abundant lead in Wisconsin and the need for ammunition. The struggle for ownership of land between the native Indians of the area and settlers ended in a grim massacre of Indians in 1832 which prompted many of the native Indians to give up their lands and leave the state. Soon after this, the land was flooded by immigrants from Britain, Scandinavia, Germany and Switzerland as well as lead miners, and they along with other early settlers may have applied for government land, homestead land or mining claims. All of these records should be searched because the information found in the early applications may contain valuable information regarding ancestors.  

Fur trading was the main attraction to the Wisconsin area prior to statehood. Even though Wisconsin became a territory of the United States in 1783, it remained somewhat in control of the English until after the War of 1812. It was around this time that fur trading shifted to lead mining; one reason was because of the need for ammunition. The hope of gaining wealth through mining attracted many immigrants, and this along with the increase of other settlers eventually led to Wisconsin's statehood in 1846.  

When the area that is now [[Wisconsin|Wisconsin]] became part of the [[United States|United States]], a few prior land claims by early pioneers were settled in the courts, though most of the land was unclaimed. This unclaimed land became the public domain, was '''surveyed''', and then sold through land offices with the first land office established at Mineral point in 1834. Since Wisconsin was a [[Government Land Grants|Federal land state]], the land was divided into townships (36 square miles), range, and section (one square mile within the township). The paperwork involved with these Federal land purchases are contained in a case file held at the National Archives. In order to obtain the '''case file''', a legal description of the land is needed which may be found in a deed, plat map, '''tract book''', or '''patent books'''. To learn how to obtain this land description, see the wiki article under United States Land and Property - Federal Land - [[Grants from the Federal Government (Public Domain)#Obtaining_a_Legal_Description_of_the_Land|Obtaining a Legal Description of the Land]].  

Wisconsin uses the rectangular land survey system of section, township, and range.The townships were six-mile square blocks of land, divided into 36 one-mile squares called sections. The township was numbered north and south, starting from the center line, and the range was numbered east and west starting from the center line.  

[[Wisconsin, Outagamie County Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)|Land]]