Conducting research on federal land for family history

Once a buyer completed payment or presented a warrant for military service at a federal land office, they received a receipt, and the office sent completed paperwork to the General Land Office in Washington. Eventually, the office would complete two copies of a final certificate, or patent, on high-quality paper and giving the land description, patentee name, file number, date and signature of the president.

The office forwarded one copy to the local land office, where the buyer could retrieve it. Buyers might also record the patent in the county deed books. These are the documents retained by families oftentimes, and there are several misconceptions about what they really are. They are not grants but are patents. They are not documentation of homesteads -- these were not possible until after passage of the Homestead Act in 1862. The president signed patents through the administration of John Quincy Adams. Thereafter, the signature is likely that of a clerk signing for the president.

Research on original title of federal lands begins at the General Land Office website (glorecords.blm.gov/). Click on "Search Documents", and you will see a search screen with a number of fields. Select the state where your ancestor might have lived, or "Any State" if you are not sure. Then, select the county. Type the last and first name. If your ancestor's surname had alternate spellings, you can use the "%" sign as a wild card. For example, instead of "Smith," use "Sm%th%," which covers Smith, Smyth or Smythe. Click "Search Patents", and a list of patentees with that name may or may not pop up. If you wish to view a scan of the government's copy of the patent, click on the small page image on the left. Once you can view the image, click on "Related Documents", and you will see a list of patentees who had land adjacent to the person holding the patent. There is far more to it, but that is the way to do a basic search.

Land case entry files at the National Archives may reveal much detail, or not. To receive copies of a land case entry file, fill out a NATF-84 form, using information about the patent from the General Land Office website archives.gov/files/forms/pdf/natf-84.pdf. Submit the form and the $50 fee as instructed on the form. A warning: Many of these contain a Receiver's Certificate and Receipt only, meaning all you would get is a copy of the original signature of your ancestor. Some of the documents in the files may show relationships or contain affidavits from neighbors detailing your ancestor's settlement of the land. Alternatively, you can hire a researcher to find the file, oftentimes a faster and less expensive route. A list is at archives.gov/research/hire-help.

Names of patentees, as well as those who purchase swamp, school and other specially designated lands are on the Missouri Digital Heritage site s1.sos.mo.gov/records/archives/archivesdb/land/. Patent images are unavailable at this site, but this is also a route to some documents related to Spanish and French land grant papers. Information on swamp, school and other lands may be at the appropriate county courthouse, or on microfilm at the Missouri State Archives. Depending on the date in Missouri, purchasers of swamp land who claimed it by preemption (settling on the land before it was available for purchase) had to prove they had settled on the tract and document the improvements they had made. These statements can be a gold mine of information on the family. If you research in other states, you will have to learn about the land patent research resources in that state.

Most public land states had at least a few settlers who filed for land under the 1862 Homestead Act. The law specified improvements settlers had to make to qualify for land under this act, and because they had to prove they had met the requirements, the process generated much paperwork valuable to genealogists. The Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office web site allows finding land obtained under the Homestead Act. The application files have been digitized for some states and can be found on Ancestry using the "Card Catalog" search option. For other states, the original applications are at the National Archives, and you must use the same process for requesting land case entry files to get copies.