73,385
edits
t
(t) |
(t) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
''[[United States|United States]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[United States Land and Property|Land and Property]]'' [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] '''Tract books''' | ''[[United States|United States]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] [[United States Land and Property|Land and Property]]'' [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] '''Tract books''' | ||
Tract books were originally maintained by the federal government for each parcel of land obtained from the federal government. These ledgers were used to record entries, leases, withdrawals and other actions affecting the disposition of lands in the public domain. This information allowed federal land officials to determine the status of lands and minerals. | |||
Likewise, most state and county governments keep similar ledgers called tract books for each parcel of real property in their jurisdiction in order to track ownership and status of real estate after it left federal control. | |||
'''Federal tract books.''' The [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives in Washington, DC]] has over 10 million land entry case files of individuals trying to obtain a private claim to some of the public land in [[United States Land and Property#United_States|30 federal land states]] from 1820-1908. In almost all these cases the land was surveyed and described as part of the '''Public Lands Survey System''', which divided the land into '''Congressional townships''' on a '''township and range''' grid based on '''[[rectangular surveys]]'''. | |||
Federal 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" /> | ||
| Line 36: | Line 40: | ||
:*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 ==== | ||