Legal Land Descriptions in the USA

For further discussion of Land Records in the United States, see the chapter by Thorndale in The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy (1984) edited by Arlene Eakle and Johni Cerny, Ancestry, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT.


In terms of land distribution, the states fall into two classes:

[1] State-land states where the state made the land grants.

[2] Public-domain states where the federal government made the land grants.


If you have other questions about land records, try the Land Record Reference, a service of Direct Line Software (authors of DeedMapper [tm], a computer program to make maps from deeds)

US Geological Survey's National Mapping Information has info on mapping and a brochure "Using Maps in Genealogy" available in PDF format.


| Legal Land Descriptions in the USA |

Last update: Tuesday, 07-Dec-2004 16:32:03 CST