Wisconsin Land and Property: Difference between revisions

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 The year 1834 was a good year for acquiring land in Wisconsin.&nbsp;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<ref>McKenna, Maurice ''History of Fond du Lac County'' as found in [http://www.wlhn.org/fond_du_lac/Fdl_earlyhistory.htm ''Early Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin''] 1916</ref>.&nbsp; By November&nbsp;1834, the first land offices in Wisconsin opened in Mineral Point, Iowa county, and Green Bay, followed by Milwaukee in 1836.&nbsp; Even before land was opened, licenses to mine were issued as early as 1822.&nbsp; This was because of the abundant lead in Wisconsin and the need&nbsp;for ammunition.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; Soon after this, the land was flooded by&nbsp;immigrants from Britain,&nbsp;Scandinavia, Germany&nbsp;and Switzerland as well as lead miners,<ref>Wisconsin Historical Society [http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/topics/shorthistory/territory.asp ''Short History of Wisconsin - The Territorial Era:1787-1848'']1996-2010</ref> and they along with other early settlers may have applied for [[Government Land Grants|government land]], [[Homestead Records|homestead land]] or [[Mining Claims|mining claims.]] All of these records should be searched because the information found in the early applications may contain valuable information regarding ancestors.
-Wisconsin was a public-domain ("Federal-Land")&nbsp;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]].
+Wisconsin&nbsp;is a public-domain ("Federal-Land")&nbsp;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]].
 If you are new to land research, you may wish to read the Beginner’s corner and other articles included on the [[United States Land and Property|United States Land and Property]] page.