'INDIANA LAND ENTRIES' (Con't)
By Margaret R. Waters
~~~~~~~~~~~
This first book contains the records of the Cincinnati District. The area
covered is mainly a district known as the "wedge" or "gore" located in
the
southeastern part of the state and bounded roughly by the Ohio-Indiana State
Line, the Ohio River, and the Greenville Treaty Line. The territory
comprises all of the present counties of Ohio, Dearborn, Union, and Wayne;
most of Switzerland, Fayette, Franklin, and Randolph; and a tiny section of
Jay. Some entries in the region are given in the Indianapolis District, to
be copied later. See map on page 1.
There are in Indiana two Principal Meridians---the first at the Ohio-Indiana
State Line at approximately 84 degrees and 49 minutes longitude, the second
about two-thirds of the way across the state to the west at approximately 86
degrees and 28 minutes longitude. Most descriptions of land are given as
ranges east or west of the 2nd P.M. The Base Line is located in the
southern part of the state at approximately 38 degrees and 28 minutes
latitude. Townships are north or south of the Base Line.
These records have been copied solely for genealogical purposes to enable a
searcher to learn if an ancestor did locate in Indiana; if so, where and
when. Consequently, to save time and space, I have omitted giving the
acreage and the final certificate numbers. Reference to my page 1 will,
except in the case of fractional sections, give the acreage; and if anyone
particularly cares for the final certificate number, he would probably want
a signed letter from the Bureau of Land Management in Washington, D.C.
The land records for Indiana have never been published, copied, nor indexed
by names. Therefore, they have been completely useless to searchers unless
they knew the exact, or at least a close approximate, location of the land
on which they suspected ancestors might have settled.
Since the 1820 Census is the first for Indiana, these records will, in a way
serve as a substitute for earlier censuses. The fact that a person entered
land, however, does not necessarily mean that he ever actually lived on it.
Also, some "squatter" residents may never have bought their land before they
migrated to other places.
In copying the records, I have done so exactly as they appear in the
originals---by location. By this, searchers may be able to identify other
members of the family from nearby entries made by people of the same surname
also there is a possibility of a clue to neighboring families into which
daughters might have married.
The searcher is warned against assuming, without other proof, that Sr. and
Jr. necessarily mean father and son. In the early days, this often literally
meant the "elder" and the "younger"---sometimes a man and his nephew,
occasionally two unrelated men of the same name, coincidentally. A given
name or middle name resembling a surname does not always positively indicate
a relationship to that family. Children were often given the name of a
neighbor. Of course, such names as George Washington Brown and Lorenzo Dow
Green are self-explanatory!
The records of the Cincinnati District are contained in two books which I
have called Volume I and Volume II, The earliest entries are on April 9,
1801, and the latest on August 1, 1840.
Volume I, the older, is unbound and is in very bad condition. The pages are
brittle, and the ink is faded---in some places illegible. The handwriting
is excellent, in the main. When a man relinquished his entry (did not
complete his payments), a red R was placed beside his name; and the name of
the later purchaser is also sometimes given. For example: "Powell Scott,
NE1/2-S6-T14N-R14E of 2nd P.M.; 4-2-1817. Rel. W1/2. To Jacob Deboy,
9-20-1827." Interpreted, this means that on April 2, 1817, Scott entered
(started paying on) the NE 1/4, etc.; that he later relinquished his entry
(stopped paying); and that on September 20, 1827, the W1/2-NE1/4 was resold
to Jacob Deboy. The R (for relinquished) does not always indicate whether
the man gave up all of his land or only part; reference must be made to the
same site in Volume II to see if anyone else bought the unmentioned
part---in the above case, the E1/2-NE1/4. Sometimes, a man later bought back
all or part of what he had previously relinquished.
**My Note: I do not have Volume II.. Will do lookups in Volume I. Will also
send copies of the maps via jpeg att. if anyone wants. Let me know..
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Copied by Nancee(McMurtrey)Seifert
November 13, 2005
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