General Resource Sites

• Ancestor Search - Land Genealogy and Family Tree Surname Search Engines 
• Bureau of Land Management Home Page 
  • The Bureau of Land Management - General Land Office Records 
    The Official Land Patent Records Site. This site has a searchable database of more than two million Federal land title records for Eastern Public Land States, issued between 1820 and 1908, including scanned images of those records. The Eastern Public Land States covered in this database are: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin. Images of Serial patents, issued between 1908 and the mid-1960's are currently being added to this web site.
• Indian Bounty Land Applications 
  Article by Mary Frances Morrow.
• Land Ownership Maps in the Library of Congress 
  A list by state, county and year, of the maps available in the collection held at the Library of Congress.
• Land Record Reference 
• Land Record Research Directory 
  List of other researchers and the areas they are researching in.
• LAND-RESEARCH Mailing List 
  For the discussion and sharing of information regarding land and property research in the United States and its applications in genealogy. Archives: browse or search.
• Locating Deed Information 
  Explains a number of methods of locating old deeds.
• A Location Guide to the General Land Office (GLO) Survey Plats 
  A list of organizations that own GLO plats - both originals or copies.
• The National Archives | The Catalogue | Research Guides: A to Z  ~ U.K.
  • Common Lands 
  • Contaminated Land 
  • Crown, Church and Royalist Lands: 1642-1660 
  • Requisitioned Land 
  • Valuation Office Records Created Under The Finance (1909-1910) Act 
• Public Records Online 
  Links to available state & county Tax Assessors' and Recorders' offices. Online public records may include copies of deeds, parcel maps, GIS maps, tax data, ownership information and indexes. Some Recorders' offices have marriage and birth records available online.
• Research in the Land Entry Files of the General Land Office -Record Group 49 
  Provides an overview of the land entry files held at the National Archives and an introduction to using these records in your research.
• RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees No. 29: American Land Records 
• US Land & Property Research 
  By Bill Utterback for the IIGS University.
• U.S. Public Lands - Public Domain System 
• Where to Obtain Land Patents/Warrants 
  Locations of where to order or find land entry case files. All States.
• Where Two White Oaks Used to Grow 
  A Case Study In Using a Computer to Unpuzzle the 'Metes and Bounds of Your Ancestors' Land - And Finding It. By Richard A. Pence.
• WorldVitalRecords.com - Court, Land, and Probate 
  An inexpensive, growing set of pay-for-use databases. Including vital records, court records, military records, and an extensive collection of newspapers.

Homesteads

• Alberta Genealogical Society - Index to Alberta Homestead Records - 1870 to 1930 
• Ancestry.com - Homesteaders Left Marks on Land and Paper 
  Article from Shaking Your Family Tree by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.
• Arphax Publishing Co. - Home of the Family Maps Land Patent Books 
  The Family Maps Land Patent Books are published county by county, state by state. Data for each county is compiled from the Federal Land Patents database and displayed in these customized books. All books include a Patent Map and Patent Index for each of the Congressional Townships within the county. Deluxe Editions also include for each Township: a Road Map and a Historical Map, which includes waterways, watercourses & railroads. The Road and Historical Maps also include city-centers and cemeteries that can be found at NationalAtlas.gov. All books contain a separate Surname/Patent Index and a Surname/Township Index to help you dive into the right area of the county to find the location of your ancestor's federal land purchase. Family Maps books are a helpful visual reference tool that makes your federal lands research easier than ever.
  • Family Maps Books: Homesteads Editions 
• Footnote.com - Homestead Records - Nebraska 
  Land Entry Case Files of the Broken Bow Land Office, Broken Bow, NE: Homestead Final Certificates, 1890-1908. Footnote is an online repository for original historical documents, combined with the ability for users to make comments, annotations, and upload their own documents. Some areas of Footnote are free to use, while others can be freely searched and then viewed with a paid subscription.
• The Homestead Act, 1862 
  From Time Passages - Genealogy of the Dakotas.
• The Homestead Act May 20, 1862 
• The Homestead Act of 1862 
  By Richard Pence.
• The Homestead Act of 1862 
  A summary and transcription of the act.
• Homestead Forms 
  Examples of some of the homestead forms available from the Provincial Archives, Saskatchewan, Canada.
• Homestead National Monument of America (National Park Service) 
  • Homestead National Monument of America 
    The Homestead Act of 1862 was one of the most significant and enduring events in the westward expansion of the United States. By granting 160 acres of free land to claimants, it allowed nearly any man or woman a chance to live the American dream. Homestead National Monument of America, located in Southeast Nebraska, commemorates this Act and the far-reaching effects it had upon the landscape and people of the plains.
    • Genealogy 
    • The Homestead Act 
• Homestead Records Detail Pioneer Life 
  Article by Michael John Neill that discusses using homestead records and what types of information these records typically contain.
• Homestead Records Information Page 
  Step-by-Step Procedure to Homestead Records.
• Homestead Papers Copied by Faith Libelo 
  She can visit the National Archives for you and copy the files. E-mail Faith at Faith@Libelo.info for details.
• INGALLS Homestead File 
  Scanned images of 24 original documents pertaining to the DeSmet, South Dakota homestead of the family of Laura Ingalls Wilder. A terrific example from the National Archives and Records Administration.
• Manitoba Homestead Records 
• Saskatchewan homestead records, 1870-1930, and index 
  From the Family History Library Catalog.

How To

• Analyzing Deeds for Useful Clues 
  From the Board for Certification of Genealogists - Skill Building - January 1995.
• Beyond the Index--Michael John Neill's Articles in the Ancestry Daily News 
  • Get Wild! Using % and _ at the BLM Site 
  • Lots of Leads from A Little Lot 
  • Milling Around for Leads 
  • More Tracking the Tract 
    A follow up to using the tract index .
  • Mortgages, Signatures and Geometry 
    An 1878 recorded mortgage that contains an actual signature and a metes and bounds description of the property.
  • N-S-E-W 
    Information on land descriptions in Public Land States.
  • Rural Roots 
    This article discusses some ideas for searching for rural ancestors, particularly those in the mid-nineteenth century and later.
  • Tracking The Tract 
    An introduction to the tract index.
  • Homestead Records Detail Pioneer Life 
  • What to Expect from a Deed 
  • Where Did the Farm Go? 
• Genealogy Today: Deeds, records of land sales can flesh out history 
  Article by Connie Lenzen.
• How to Search Deeds 
  From DoHistory.
  • Form for Deed Research Notes 
• Taking The Mystery Out of Land Records 
  By Linda Haas Davenport. Description of the History of Land Records and how to use Land Records in family history research.
• Those Elusive Early Americans: Public Lands and Claims in the American State Papers, 1789–1837 
  Article by Chris Naylor for Prologue, the quarterly of the National Archives and Records Administration.

Land Descriptions, Measurements & Surveys

• Deed Platter - Platting Deeds in Metes and Bounds 
  An interactive form to plat deeds in metes and bounds.
• Early Land Surveys in Southern Ontario 
  By John Becker.
• Glossary, Acronyms and Abbreviations 
  Land terms defined from the Bureau of Land Management's Learning the Cadastral Data Content Standard.
• Graphical Display of the Federal Township and Range System  ~ U.S.
  Explains the division of townships and sections.
• How to Read and Understand Legal Land Descriptions - Understanding Legal Land Descriptions 
• Land Survey Information System 
  Clickable map of the range/meridian/townships/sections of the United States. It allows the genealogist to find the land parcel by using the land deed description.
• Land Survey Systems 
• Legal Land Descriptions in the USA 
  • Legal Land Descriptions in Federal Township and Range System 
  • Legal Land Descriptions in Indiscriminate Metes and Bounds 
• Measuring America: How the United States Was Shaped by the Greatest Land Sale in History 
  A book by Andro Linklater.
• Metes and Bounds Surveys 
• Range Maps for Dummies 
• Rectangular Survey System - BLM GLO Records 
• Surveying Units and Terms 
• U.S. Weights and Measures 
  Includes area measures and surveyor's chain measures.

Locality Specific

• Landgate  ~ Western Australia
  • Historical Records 
    Ownership records dating back to the beginning of the settlement of the State.
  • Western Australian Place Names and Addressing 
• Land Information New Zealand 
  • Researchers and Historians 
• Maori Land Court  ~ New Zealand
  • Past and Present - Maori Land Court History 

Canada
    See also: Cyndi's List - Canada Index

• Archives of Ontario Research Guide 205 - How to Use the Ontario Land Records Index ca. 1780 - ca. 1920 
• Cape Breton land petitions and other material — 1787-1864  ~ Nova Scotia
• Dave Obee's Family History Page - Finding Aid: Prairie Land Records 
• Early Land Surveys in Southern Ontario 
  By John Becker.
• The Glenbow Museum > Archives CPR Land Sales 
  Records of sales of agricultural land by the Canadian Pacific Railway to settlers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta from 1881 to 1927.
• Homestead Forms 
  Examples of some of the homestead forms available from the Provincial Archives, Saskatchewan, Canada.
• In Search of Your Canadian Past: The Canadian County Atlas Digital Project 
  From McGill University's Rare Books and Special Collections Division. A searchable database derived from published county atlases between 1874 & 1881. Searchable by property owners' names or by location. Township maps, portraits and properties have been scanned, with links from the property owners' names in the database.
• Land Registry  ~ Saskatchewan
  Land registry for Saskatchewan.
• Library and Archives Canada - Lower Canada Land Petitions 
  More than 95,000 references to individuals who lived in present-day Quebec between 1764 and 1841.
• Library and Archives Canada - Western Land Grants (1870-1930) 
  Letters Patent issued by the Lands Patent Branch of the Department of the Interior. The records refer to grants issued in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the railway belt of British Columbia, c. 1870-1930.
• Manitoba Homestead Records 
• Nova Scotia Archives & Records Management - Land Petitions 
  Nova Scotia petitions 1769-1799 ~ Cape Breton Island petitions 1787-1843.
• PANB/UNB Cadastral Database - Searching the Grantbook Database 
  Records of land settlement in New Brunswick,1765-1800.
• Provincial Archives of New Brunswick :: RS108 :: Index to Land Petitions: Original Series, 1783-1918 
• Provincial Archives of New Brunswick :: RS686 :: Index to New Brunswick Land Grants, 1784 - 1997 
• Registry of Deeds - Nova Scotia 
• The Saskatchewan Homestead Index 
  A file locator database to the homestead files at the Saskatchewan Archives. It contains 360,000 references to those men and women who, from 1872 to 1930, under the terms of the Dominion Lands Act, took part in the homestead process in the area now known as Saskatchewan.

Miscellaneous

• National Land Survey of Finland 

United Kingdom & Ireland
    See also: Cyndi's List - United Kingdom & Ireland Index

• Collecting Field Names in Calverton  ~ Buckinghamshire, England
• An Explanation of the REASON the 1873 Return of Land Owners was called for, WHAT the difficulties were and, WHY  ~ United Kingdom
• The Field Names of Froyle  ~ Hampshire, England
• Griffiths Valuation  ~ Waterford, Ireland
  Online searchable database.
• Harvard Law School Library - Manuscripts 
  • English Deeds 
  • Manor Rolls Collection 
  • Chancery Writs 
• Herefordshire Field Names Database  ~ England
  Online searchable database.
• HM Land Registry
• Irish Ancestors: Land Records 
• National Archives of Scotland - Deeds 
• National Archives of Scotland - The Register of Sasines 
• Public Record Office of Northern Ireland 
  • Freeholder's Records 
    Lists of people entitled to vote, or of people who voted, at elections. A freeholder was a man who owned his land outright (in fee) or who held it by lease which could be for one or more lives (for example, his own life or for the lives of other people named in the lease).
    • Search 
      Includes surname & forename as well as address and a scanned image of the printed list where the name appears.
• Registers of Scotland Executive Agency 
  Guide to Land, Sasine, Personal and Other Registers.
• Return of Owners of Land in England and Wales in 1873 
• Returns of Owners of Land 1873 (Wales, Scotland, Ireland)  ~ Wales
  Online scanned images of the list of owners of land in Wales from ratings records. The Returns show the holding, in acres, roods and poles, & estimated yearly rental of all holdings over 1 acre.
• Return of Owners of Land in Norfolk in 1873  ~ England
  Online searchable database.
• Tenures of Land and Customs of Manors 
  Details, including full index by surname, for new edition of "Tenures of Land and Customs of Manors". First published in 1679, this book gives details of land tenure (who owned what pieces of land) in England and Wales, from Middle Ages onwards.
• Tithe Applotment Books and Primary (Griffith) Valuation 

United States
    See also: Cyndi's List - United States Index

• Alamance County Land Grant Recipients  ~ North Carolina
• Along the Ohio Trail 
  A short history of Ohio lands.
• Ancestry.com - Court, Land & Probate 
  Searchable indexes; database results and some digitized images available with fee-based subscription.
  • Early Pennsylvania Land Records 
  • Alabama Land Records 
  • Arkansas Land Records 
  • Florida Land Records 
  • Georgia Land Lottery, 1827 
  • Iosco County, Michigan Early Land Owners, 1841-96 
  • Iosco County, Michigan Plat Book, 1903 
  • Kentucky Land Grants 
  • Louisiana Land Records 
  • Michigan Land Records 
  • Minnesota Land Records 
  •