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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.<ref>Hone, 269-497.</ref> | 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.<ref>Hone, 269-497.</ref> | ||
'''Tract book arrangement.''' Tract book volumes are arranged by the present-day state. In some states tract book volumes are also divided into groups by land office. The townships and ranges covered in each of the 3,907 tract books are listed at [[United States, Bureau of Land Management Tract Books Coverage Table (FamilySearch Historical Records)|United States, Bureau of Land Management Tract Books Coverage Table (FamilySearch Historical Records)]]. | '''Tract book arrangement.''' Tract book volumes are organized by state, in some states by land offices, and then by [[Rectangular surveys#Numbered_Townships_and_Ranges|township number and range number]]. Within each tract book volume, the land entries are in order by their legal land description<ref name="Hone" /><ref>Hawkins, front inside cover, and page 6.</ref> (section, township, and range); terms from the [[Rectangular surveys|rectangular surveys]] used in the Public Land Survey System used for most parts of [[United States Land and Property#United_States|30 federal land states]]. Typical tract books list the land entries for anywhere from one to 30 townships; about five townships per tract book seems to be the most common. Within most townships the order is usually by [[Rectangular surveys#Numbered_Sections|section number]]. | ||
Each land entry in a tract book was recorded across two pages.<ref>Hawkins, 6.</ref> Each page set covers part or all of one township; tract books rarely have two different townships listed on the same page. The townships usually only change one range number or one township number at a time after several pages within a tract book volume listing several townships.<br> | |||
:*For a list of the '''townships''' (described with both a township number and a range number) and '''land offices''' included in this collection, see the [[United States, Bureau of Land Management Tract Books Coverage Table (FamilySearch Historical Records)|Tract Books Coverage Table]]. ''For example:'' [[Image:Tract books coverage table example.png|right|600px|Tract books coverage table example.png]] | |||
Tract book volumes are arranged by the present-day state. In some states tract book volumes are also divided into groups by land office. The townships and ranges covered in each of the 3,907 tract books are listed at [[United States, Bureau of Land Management Tract Books Coverage Table (FamilySearch Historical Records)|United States, Bureau of Land Management Tract Books Coverage Table (FamilySearch Historical Records)]]. | |||
Inside each tract book the arrangement is by the legal land description of the section, township, and range.<ref name="Hone" /> Each land entry was recorded in the tract book across two pages.<ref>Hawkins, 9.</ref> | Inside each tract book the arrangement is by the legal land description of the section, township, and range.<ref name="Hone" /> Each land entry was recorded in the tract book across two pages.<ref>Hawkins, 9.</ref> | ||
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:*write down the '''''exact title, volume number, and page number ''''' (source information) of the tract book volume in which the ancestor's entry was found | :*write down the '''''exact title, volume number, and page number ''''' (source information) of the tract book volume in which the ancestor's entry was found | ||
This information is important to helping the National Archives retrieve the land entry case file for you. | This information is important to helping the National Archives retrieve the land entry case file for you. | ||
==== For Further Reading ==== | ==== For Further Reading ==== | ||