73,385
edits
t
(t) |
(t) |
||
| Line 109: | Line 109: | ||
Tract books serve as a comprehensive reference to the millions of land entry case files held at the National Archives in Washington, DC. However, they are arranged according to the '''''land description ''''' 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" /> | Tract books serve as a comprehensive reference to the millions of land entry case files held at the National Archives in Washington, DC. However, they are arranged according to the '''''land description ''''' 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.''' | '''Finding unpatented entry information.''' If you know (or can guess) the state and county where an ancestor started a land claim, you can search page-by-page through each of tract books for that county looking for the ancestor's name. When you find an ancestor's name in a tract book, the legal land description and land office listed in the tract book is usually enough to order a copy of the case file from the National Archives. | ||
'''Access.''' Original tract books, Internet digital versions, and microfilms exist: | '''Access.''' Original tract books, Internet digital versions, and microfilms exist: | ||
| Line 120: | Line 120: | ||
'''Content.''' Tract books show the type of land entry, its legal description (numbered section, township and range), acreage, price, entryman's name, application date, and (if applicable) patenting date and numbers.<ref name="Haw5" /> | '''Content.''' Tract books show the type of land entry, its legal description (numbered section, township and range), acreage, price, entryman's name, application date, and (if applicable) patenting date and numbers.<ref name="Haw5" /> | ||
'''Preparing to use tract books.''' | '''Preparing to use tract books.''' The National Archives in Washington, DC has a '''''map index ''''' to each state's tract books which allows researchers to identify the tract book number that covers the area in which they are interested.<ref name="Haw4" /> | ||
In addition, "Appendix A" in ''Land and Property Research in the United States '' lists each present-day federal land state and county together with its farthest north-, east-, south-, and west- township and range for that county, and the meridian(s) that applies. This information can help you narrow down the number of tract books you will need to search. | |||
Tract books for some states, such as Alabama and Ohio are organized by land office. Others are organized for the whole state. "Appendix B" in ''Land and Property Research in the United States '' shows the varying land office boundaries in each state over many years. | |||
Tract books for some states, such as Alabama and Ohio are organized by land office. Others are organized for the whole state. "Appendix B" in ''Land and Property Research in the United States '' shows the varying land office boundaries in each state over many years. | |||
'''Tract book arrangement.''' | '''Tract book arrangement.''' | ||