Kansas Land and Property
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Online Resources[edit | edit source]
- See United States Land and Property for more databases and resources.
- 1788-1960s U.S. Land Patent Search at Bureau of Land Management, index and some records
- 1820-1908 U.S., Bureau of Land Management Tract Books, 1820-1908 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; images only
- 1854-1879 Kansas Settlers, 1854-1879 at Ancestry - Index ($)
- 1861-1932 United States, Cancelled, Relinquished, or Rejected Land Entry Case Files, 1861-1932 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection, images
- 1863-1908 U.S., Homestead Records, 1863-1908 at Ancestry - index and images ($)
- Land Records at the State Archives at Kansas State Historical Society - various resources
- Survey Plats and Field Notes at Bureau of Land Management - index
- Land Owner Search at Historygeo.com ($), index to maps of original land owners
- Full-Text Search - Land Records at FamilySearch - index & images; dates, records, and places vary; How to Search
Kansas Land Records[edit | edit source]
Federal Land Records[edit | edit source]
When the United States acquired the area that is now Kansas, most of the land became part of the public domain. Available land was surveyed by the government and could then be transferred to private ownership, a process called land entry. The first general land office in Kansas was established at Lecompton in 1856. The local offices kept tract books (records of land transactions in each section) and township plats (maps of land entries in each township).
After a settler completed the requirements for land entry by either purchase (cash entry) or homesteading, his case file was sent to the General Land Office in Washington, D.C. Here a patent, or first-title deed, was issued, transferring the land from government to private ownership.
To locate the land entry or homestead case file for your ancestor, you will need to know either the patent number or the legal description (range, township, section of the land). The county recorder of deeds may be able to tell you the legal description of the land from county land records. Or you may be able to locate his tract by searching the tract book covering the approximate area.
Township plats, patent records, and copies of the tractbooks are available at:
The Wyoming State Office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
5353 Yellowstone
Cheyenne, WY 82009
Telephone: 307-775-6256
Fax: 307-775-6129
Internet: Website
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 1828
Cheyenne, WY 82003
The National Archives has the original tract books, plats, homestead entry files, and cash entry files.
Land Grants to Railroads[edit | edit source]
Large sections of land were granted to railroad companies, primarily to the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad and to the Union Pacific Railroad. These two companies sold many acres of land to settlers through their own land offices. The Kansas State Historical Society has some records of the railroad grants.
County Land Records[edit | edit source]
After land was transferred from the government by sale or grant to private hands, it could be sold again, inherited, lost by foreclosure of a mortgage, or redistributed through a divorce. These transactions should be recorded by the county clerk in the form of deeds and mortgages. You can obtain copies of the documents by contacting the appropriate clerk's office in each county. The FamilySearch Library is presently acquiring microfilm copies of the deeds in the county courthouses.
References[edit | edit source]
Kansas Research Outline. Salt Lake City, Utah: Intellectual Reserve, Inc., Family History Department, 1998, 2001. NOTE: All information in the original research outline has been added to the FamilySearch Wiki, where it is both enhanced and updated by the genealogical community.
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