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*Name of purchaser | *Name of purchaser | ||
* | *Description of the land (section, township and range) | ||
*Date of transaction | *Date of transaction | ||
*Type of transaction (cash, credit, [[Homestead Records|homestead]], [[US Military Bounty Land Warrants|bounty land]], etc.) | *Type of transaction (cash, credit, [[Homestead Records|homestead]], [[US Military Bounty Land Warrants|bounty land]], etc.) | ||
*Final disposition of transaction (canceled, | *Final disposition of transaction (canceled, relinquished or completed) | ||
Additional items of information | Additional items of information might also be found in the tract books: number of acres, date of sale, purchase price, land office, entry number, final Certificate of Purchase number, and notes on relinquishment and conversions. Such remarks added near an entry sometimes provide clues to find additional records. | ||
<div style="float: left; width: 100%"> | <div style="float: left; width: 100%"> | ||
[[Image:{{tractbks}}]] | [[Image:{{tractbks}}]] | ||
''' | '''A Patent''' was issued for all successful transaction in the tract books. Patents are very reliable and represent the formal legal transfer of land from federal to private ownership. Think of a patent as the '''first deed''' for that land. Subsequent land transfers would be a deed recorded in the local county offices. Often a patent was also recorded in the county offices. | ||
'''A | '''A Case file''' was created for each transaction in the tract books, even if the transaction was not successful. [[Land entry case files|Case files]] can include a variety of records such as applications, reports, affidavits, genealogical pages from family Bibles, citizenship papers, letters from attorneys, surveys or etc. Since each case file is different, the contents must be evaluated individually to assess their reliability. | ||
''' | '''Reliability''' Tract book entries were almost always recorded close to the time of land transactions. They are part of the formal record and are considered accurate and reliable, at least as far as the transfer of ownership is concerned. | ||
'''Coverage''' These tract books document nearly 100 percent of the land transactions for federal land states between 1820 and 1908. Every ancestor who applied to the federal government to obtain federal land should be entered in one of these tract books, whether the application was approved, or not. Unfortunately, tract books for Alaska and Missouri are missing or lost. | '''Coverage''' These tract books document nearly 100 percent of the land transactions for federal land states between 1820 and 1908. Every ancestor who applied to the federal government to obtain federal land should be entered in one of these tract books, whether the application was approved, or not. Unfortunately, tract books for Alaska and Missouri are missing or lost. | ||