Land Records: The Paper Trail of Property
Deeds, patents and surveys survive when other records burned. Learn the difference between state-land and federal-land states and how to use them.
For most of American history the majority of men, and many women, owned land. Land was valuable, so its records were carefully kept and often re-recorded after courthouse fires. That makes land records one of the most complete and underused sources for genealogists.
State-land vs. federal-land states
How land was first granted depends on where it was:
- State-land states are the 13 original colonies plus Maine, Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Texas and Hawaii. The colony or state granted the land first, and records are usually at the state archives or land office. Land was described by metes and bounds: "beginning at a white oak on Peter Smith's line, thence north 40 poles..."
- Federal-land (public-land) states are the other 30. The federal government sold or granted the land first, and that first transfer is recorded as a land patent. Land was surveyed in the rectangular grid of township, range and section.
Every state guide on this site tells you which kind of state you're dealing with.
Federal land patents
The Bureau of Land Management's General Land Office Records site has free images of millions of federal patents. A patent gives you a name, a date and a precise legal description. Even better, the underlying land entry case file, held at the National Archives, can be rich. Homestead files (1863 onward) include proof of residence, testimony from neighbors and sometimes naturalization papers.
Deeds: where the real genealogy is
After that first grant, every later sale was recorded at the county level in deed books. Look for:
- Heirs' deeds: several people selling land "being the heirs of John Miller, deceased." This can identify an entire family of siblings in one document.
- Dower releases: a wife giving up her one-third interest, which names her.
- Deeds of gift: "for love and affection to my son."
- Witnesses and neighbors: the same names often reappear as in-laws and relatives.
Deed books are indexed by grantor (seller) and grantee (buyer). Search both, and follow a piece of land forward and backward in time.
Plat the land
Drawing a deed's boundaries on graph paper or with free platting software, then matching it to neighboring tracts, can show which families lived side by side for generations. It can also tell apart two men of the same name: the John Miller on Beaver Creek isn't the John Miller on the Ohio River.