This is a great site if you have VA ancestors. It helps if you have a very
fast modem.
Melissa
-----Original Message-----
From: hjackwells(a)juno.com [mailto:hjackwells@juno.com]
Sent: Friday, November 20, 1998 3:32 PM
To: ALEXANDER-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: [ALEXANDER-L] Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants
I received this from another mailing list and thought it might be
helpful to someone on this list
This can be a very important site for some of you with no access to the real
documents.
"Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants" can be found at:
http://image.vtls.com/collections/LO.html . Not only does this excellent
site provide you with an index card of each individual land office patent
and grant, but it also provides links to copies of the actual documents. It
also includes Kentucky, but I believe only up to that point when Kentucky
became a state. Please post a note if you find out otherwise.
TO SAVE COPIES OF INDEX CARDS AND DOCUMENTS TO YOUR SYSTEM:
If you have Windows95 (and probably Windows98), the index cards can be
copied to a file on your system by right-clicking your mouse on the card,
and then right-clicking "Copy" on your pop-up menu. You can save the card
as .gif or .bmp files. Additionally, if you are on an index card screen and
want to look at the copy of the original document, click on the box above
the card that says "Retrieve DOC". Once you're there, and if you decide
you
want to save the document, all you have to do is click on the screen of the
minaturized document, and go through the simple procedure that follows. All
documents are saved to your system as a .tiff file. You may have to save
more than one page to get the entire document that you are trying to save.
I will say that it is very interesting to review documents,however routine,
that have been signed by the likes of Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry!
Enjoy!
P. S.: Here is some explanatory information that can also be found at the
website.
============================================================>
Land Office Patents and Grants>
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Description of Collection
Recorded copies of those documents by which the Crown (between 1623 and
1774) and the Commonwealth (from 1779) transferred new land to individual
ownership; since 1975 grants have mainly taken the form of escheats, usually
for non-payment of taxes. To receive land, an individual paid a specified
amount per acre and received a warrant which served as the authority by
which surveyors could lay out the requested land.
After the survey was completed, both the warrant and thesurvey, along with
any supplemental papers, were returned to the Land Office,where after
examination of the documents, the patent or grant was issued. The original
was given to the landowner, and a copy was recorded in bound registers; it
is these registers that form this series.
The recorded document identifies the person(s) receiving the land, the
county in which the land was located, the number of acres, the metes and
bounds of the land and the date of issue. After 1779, the survey which was
made on the land was also recorded in bound registers. During the colonial
period land could be awarded for military service.
This series of records does not reference land located within the Northern
Neck Proprietary.
General Arrangement of Finding Aid
Arrangement is alphabetical by the name of the patentee orgrantee. See
Detailed Arrangement below for subdivision and filing rules. The cards
contain the date of the grant, the county in which the land was located, the
number of acres in the tract and a brief description of the property. The
cards also note the book number and inclusive page numbers where the grant
or patent was recorded. Adjacent land owners and physical features such as
watercourses are often indicated.
Format of Collection
Electronic images, microfilm and original documents.
Detailed Arrangement of Finding Aid
The file is arranged by patentee or grantee. Entries of persons of the same
name are subarranged first by county (with "no county indicated" at the
beginning), then by the date of the patent/grant and finally by the page
number in the Land Office books.
Filing rules:
1. Mr., Mrs., Esq. and Gentleman are ignored in filing. All other
titles/appellatives are considered.
2. Entries followed by military rank are filed alphabetically by military
rank following other designations such as Sr.,Jr., "of Mattapony",
etc.>>Example:>Custis, John>Custis, John Sr.
Custis, Capt. John>Custis, Col. John>Custis, Major Gen. John>
3. Joint patentees are filed according to the first name listed following
that name as an individual entry and sub arranged by the second name listed,
then the third name listed, etc.
More Information about the Collection
Part of: Records of the Executive Branch. Land Office (RecordGroup 4). Entry
66 in Virginia Land Office Inventory. See page 54-56, AGuide to State
Records in the Archives Branch, Virginia State Library and Archives
(Richmond, 1985).
Related Resources
Land Office Surveys, 1779-present (Entry 41-42 in Virginia Land Office
Inventory).
Cavaliers and Pioneers ... (Richmond, 1934-1979 and 1994) Vols.1-3
abstracted by Nell Marion Nugent; v. 4-5 edited by DennisHudgins; v. 6-7
forthcoming. Virginia Land Office Inventory (Daphne S. Gentry)revised and
enlarged by John S. Salmon (3rd ed., 1981).
Access to Materials
Phase II of the Digital Library Initiative, to be completed by March, 1997,
will provide the capability of accessing the actual images of the Land
Office e Records through this interface.
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