At the BLM site, you can search land patents by filling in only ONE field. If you know more, then you should fill in more. You DO NOT have to know where the land is located. For example, I know that my great grandfather homesteaded land in Clark county, Arkansas. Now I can fill in only his last name, but why do that since I do know the other information? On the other hand, if I were not sure about the other information, I would enter just the name, or even just the surname. You may need to try variations on the name, first and last. I happen to know that my ggf appears in the 1870 census with a surname spelling different than what is currently used, so that would be another option to try. tootncmon