Bureau Of Land Management - General Land Office Records

Search Results for all Slocum land patents in Illinois and Minnesota (none found in Iowa).

http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/search/search.asp

Summarized by Scott S. Slocum, 9/24/2000

Bureau Of Land Management - General Land Office Records

Excerpts from Frequently Asked Questions

http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/visitor/faq.asp

 Q. What's a land patent?

A. Land patents document the transfer of land ownership from the federal government to individuals. Our land patent records include the information recorded when ownership was transferred.

A. The term public land means any lands and interest which title is still vested in the Federal Government. The Secretary of the Interior through the BLM administers those lands within the several states.

A. Those states created out of the public domain are the lands now embraced in the States of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

A. These are public domain lands that have never left Federal ownership and have not been reserved, withdrawn, dedicated or set aside for a certain purpose. These lands are mostly in the 11 Western states (LINK FOR STATE OFFICE PAGE) although there are scattered parcels throughout each of the eastern public lands States. The Eastern States field offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Jackson, Mississippi have information about lands that may be available for sale.

A. In the very early years of the United States, the Congress of the Confederation declared it would sell or grant the unclaimed lands in "the West" (given up by the States to the United States) for the common benefit of the United States. The States gave up their claims to what is now Alabama, Michigan, part of Minnesota, Mississippi, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The United States could then sell this unclaimed land to raise money for the Treasury. In turn, the United States gave up its claims to any land within the boundaries of the Colonies.

A. The land was disposed of by the authority of many acts of Congress - sale, homesteads, military warrants for military service, timber culture, mining, etc. One of the primary purposes of these public land laws was to encourage people from the East to move West. In the early 1800's people could buy public land for $1.25 an acre. For a time, they could buy up to 640 acres under this law. The sale of public land under the "Cash Act" is no longer in effect.

Several Military Warrant Acts granted public land to soldiers instead of pay. These acts have been repealed.

The Homestead Act of 1862, allowed people to settle up to 160 acres of public land if they lived on it for five years and grew crops or made improvements. This land did not cost anything per acre, but the settler did pay a filing fee. This act is no longer in effect.

A. This office maintains the original survey plats and field notes for eight of the Eastern public land states (AL, AR, FL, LA, MI, MN, MS, WI). The duplicate original survey plats and field notes are also housed in this office for sixteen of the Western public land states (AZ, AK, CA, CO, ND, SD, ID, MT, NE, NV, NM, OK, OR, UT, WA, WY). NOTE: Oklahoma survey plats and field notes are Originals. For information please see the specific BLM State Office website and link to their Cadastral Survey web page. The National Archives and Records Administration maintains the original survey plats and field notes for IL, IN, IA, KS, MO and OH. If you are searching for a Western land patent issued prior to July 1, 1908, please contact the specific BLM State office for information.

A. The Eastern States Office maintains the Serial Patents for Western Public Land States, issued between July 1, 1908 and the early 1960s. These records are indexed and retrievable by patentee name and/or legal land description, with the exception of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska. If you would like a copy of a Western State Serial Patent, please submit your email request to records@es.blm.gov.

If you are searching for a Western land patent issued prior to July 1, 1908 please contact the specific BLM State Office for information.

A. Due to the tremendous amount of land sold in the 1800's, the General Land Office experienced quite a backlog in the middle part of the 19th century. It was not unusual for several years to pass between the time an individual purchased land from the local land office and the time a patent for that tract was finally signed by the GLO in Washington, D.C.

A. Some patents have the word "Pre-emption"in the upper left-hand corner. "Pre-emption" was a tactful way of saying "squatter". In other words, the settler was physically on the property before the GLO officially sold or even surveyed the tract, and he was thus given a pre-emptive right to acquire the land from the United States.

A. The St. Stephens Meridian and Huntsville Meridian surveys cross into both Mississippi and Alabama, creating situations where the land offices in St. Stephens and Huntsville, Alabama and in Columbus, Mississippi sold lands in both states. We suggest that anyone researching that area take a look at the databases for both states.

The original state line between Alabama and Florida did not close against the Tallahassee Meridian survey (which covered all of Florida), but rather against the earlier St. Stephens Meridian survey in south Alabama. The state line was later resurveyed, creating a situation where some Tallahassee Meridian lands fell across the border into Alabama. We suggest that anyone researching that area take a look at the databases for both states.

A. The only state we have Revolutionary War-era military bounty warrants for is Ohio (mostly in the Virginia Military District), and even those records for the most part have only a survey number and warrant number on them. A few were issued for rectangularly surveyed sections of land, but most were for metes and bounds surveys in the Virginia Military District.

A. The Cincinnati land office issued several thousand patents for lands in southeastern Indiana within what was called "the Gore" - a roughly triangular-shaped area bounded by the Ohio-Indiana border, the Greenville Treaty line and the Ohio River. These Indiana records have been scanned and indexed as Ohio records.

A. All of northeastern Ohio was part of the Connecticut Western Reserve, which was set aside to satisfy military bounty warrants for Revolutionary War veterans from that state. The General Land Office didn't have anything to do with land records for that area of Ohio. The following addresses may be of help to you for information on the Connecticut Western Reserve:

Connecticut State Library 231 Capitol Street Hartford, CT 06115

Western Reserve Historical Society 10825 East Boulevard, University Circle Cleveland, OH 44106 (216) 721-5722

A. Credit patents are similar to Cash; lands could be purchased under the Land Law of 1800 from the General Land Office. This credit system allowed purchasers to pay in installments over a four-year period. A delinquent payment or non-payment of the full balance resulted in forfeiture to the U.S. Because of the economic hardship Congress quickly abandoned the credit system and through the Act of April 24, 1820 required full payment for land to be made at the time of purchase. These cash patents were bound in volumes specific to a particular state - credit patents were not, and those credit volumes will be scanned and indexed into our system at a later date.

A. Land Entry files were created when a person claimed land under an act of Congress. They first had to fill out an application, and sometimes provide other information(marriage or immigration documents), at the local General Land Office. Other documents were also created under that application, like receipts for any payments, or affidavits of occupation, immigration, marriage, and homestead application. Eastern States did not keep these files. They are now the responsibility of the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C.

The land entry file information can be obtained from the National Archives. Click here for more information.

A. A certified copy is a copy of the document we maintain at Eastern States for the Secretary of the Interior. The original document prepared by the Scribe looks exactly like the copy of the patent given to the landowner, except it is signed by the Scribe for the signing official. Please note that discrepancies can occur between the original patent and the Secretary's copy.