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===== Tract books ===== | ===== Tract books ===== | ||
Tract books serve as a comprehensive reference to | Tract books serve as a comprehensive reference to over 10 million of land entry case files held at the National Archives in Washington, DC. However, they are arranged according to the '''''land description ''''' (township, range, and section) rather than the name of the claimant. They include '''all''' applicants for federal land, including those whose claim failed to receive a patent because it was unfinished, forfeited, rejected or cancelled.<ref name="Hone" /> | ||
'''Finding unpatented entry information.''' If you know (or can guess) the state and county where an ancestor started an unfinished, forfeited, rejected, or cancelled land claim, you can search page-by-page through each of the tract books for that county looking for the ancestor's name. When you find an ancestor's name, the legal land description and land office listed in the tract book is usually enough to order a copy of the unpatented case file from the National Archives.<ref name="Hone" /> | '''Finding unpatented entry information.''' If you know (or can guess) the state and county where an ancestor started an unfinished, forfeited, rejected, or cancelled land claim, you can search page-by-page through each of the tract books for that county looking for the ancestor's name. When you find an ancestor's name, the legal land description and land office listed in the tract book is usually enough to order a copy of the unpatented case file from the National Archives.<ref name="Hone" /> | ||
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'''Tract book arrangement.''' Tract books are arranged by the present-day state. In some states tract books are also divided into groups by land office. Each tract book is arranged by the legal land description of the section, township, and range.<ref name="Hone" /> | '''Tract book arrangement.''' Tract books are arranged by the present-day state. In some states tract books are also divided into groups by land office. Each tract book is arranged by the legal land description of the section, township, and range.<ref name="Hone" /> | ||
The townships and ranges covered in each of the 2,325 tract books is listed at [[United States, Bureau of Land Management Tract Books (FamilySearch Historical Records)|United States, Bureau of Land Management Tract Books Coverage Table (FamilySearch Historical Records)]]. | The townships and ranges covered in each of the 2,325 tract books is listed at [[United States, Bureau of Land Management Tract Books (FamilySearch Historical Records)|United States, Bureau of Land Management Tract Books Coverage Table (FamilySearch Historical Records)]]. | ||
==== For Further Reading ==== | ==== For Further Reading ==== | ||