Peggy is right. Before the BLM site was available, I requested the "whole file" from NARA. In fact, when requesting anything, you should always request "everything" in the file because you never know what else is there. I also have immigration papers...there too, request the whole file. Thanks for all your helpful information Peggy. These are things many of us have read over the years but may have forgotten and also many newbies can use this info. With the Internet today, many aren't reading some the books us oldies have...like North Carolina Research by Helen Leary and many other books...and there's not one single book that covers everything. Thanks! -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [BOWER] BOWER Digest, Vol 3, Issue 23 Date: Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:02:59 -0400 From: Peggy K. Reeves <peg@reevesweb.com> Reply-To: bower@rootsweb.com To: bower@rootsweb.com References: <mailman.223.1214031701.27462.bower@rootsweb.com> Yes, this the Bureau of Land Management has a great website, and there is a lot that you can do with it. But don't think that what you see here is all that you get. The only thing that you can print from this site is the actual patent certificate. For each transaction listed at this site, there will be a file of paperwork at NARA in D.C. For transactions marked "cash entry", there won't be much more than the cash receipt showing how much the patentee paid for the land. But for other transactions there will be more information. If the transaction was given under the "script warrant act", that means it was probably bounty land from an 1812 soldier. There would be a bounty land file at NARA, and soldiers' records. If the transaction is marked "homestead", there would be a file of records that would include a questionnaire filled out by the homesteader, giving his age and details about his tract of land--improvements that he had made such as buildings, orchards, livestock, etc... There would also be affidavits from several of his neighbors, answering the same questions and verifying the truth of the homesteader's statements. There are many, many, diverse records at NARA and other places that are not online and never will be, because the man hours and equipment needed to scan it and put it online would be prohibitive. When using this site, it is important to remember that this does not include all patentees from all states. This site only lists the ORIGINAL patentees who purchased their land through the federal government. If your ancestor went to Oklahoma or somewhere else and bought their land from somebody else, they will not be listed at this site. Also remember that spelling definitely DOES NOT COUNT! Search every weird spelling of the name, because the same person could have more than one land transaction with the name spelled different ways. That is very common at this site. Another thing you can do with this site is set it on the other search tab (the one that does not come up as the default). With that, you can put in the coordinates of a piece of land and get a list of names of the other original patentees in that same township. Often there are relatives on adjoining tracts. Happy hunting! Peggy Reeves -------- Original Message -------- Subject: BOWER Digest, Vol 3, Issue 23 From: bower-request@rootsweb.com To: bower@rootsweb.com Date: Saturday, June 21, 2008 3:01:41 AM > Today's Topics: > > 1. Bureau of Land Mgmt records (D. Hinson) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:35:44 -0500 > From: "D. Hinson" <dhinson@suddenlink.net> > Subject: [BOWER] Bureau of Land Mgmt records > To: BOWER-L@rootsweb.com, BOWERS-L@rootsweb.com, skipper@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <485BC040.5050006@suddenlink.net> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > This is a fantastic site if you have never used it. A reminder that > records may have been added to the the BLM site since we all last looked > at it. For those who aren't familiar with it, you can print out the > records of govt lands sold/transferred to individuals. Government land > did not include the original 13 colonies. You can do a search of all > states or just by a single state. > > Click on Search Database at the top of the main page. You can order > certified copies if you like but for genealogy, it's not really > necessary. You should be able to print out the records very clearly on > your printer at home. > > Donna H. > > http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/ > > > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BOWER-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com Version: 8.0.138 / Virus Database: 270.4.7/1543 - Release Date: 7/9/2008 6:32 PM