Kristan, I have reviewed and printed (printed on parchment style paper they look grand) a number of documents from the Bureau of Land Management website (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/) for lands granted to or purchased by my family members. In each of those documents, there has been a handwritten statement describing the location of the township in relationship to a designated range and principal meridian. I looked at your Stophlett document at the GLO site and it doesn't include all of the same informational points that I have seen in my documents. But, also note that the Stophlett document doesn't itself name Hancock County. The quick answer to your question, I think, is that the folks at BLM knew from which land office your document was issued and thereby determined that your ancestor's land was in what is known today as Hancock County, allowing Hancock County to be used as a parameter for a search. Regarding whether or not he had to actually take possession of the land, I believe the answer is no, that the recipients could sell their parcels if they chose to do so. I found additional helpful information at the following sites: >From the Hancock County page at http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilhancoc/ select PUBLIC DOMAIN LAND SALE RECORDS then select How to determine the location of public domain lands. The State of Indiana's website http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/Indiana/genealogy/genmenu.html includes a good overview on how, in 1785, the federal government began using the rectangular survey system and other helpful information. I also found an informative tutorial at the website belonging to the International Internet Genealogical Society. I have a number ancestors who were located in Hancock County and it's been interesting for me to use the descriptions from the land documents to plot the locations of their lands to see where they all lived in relationship to each other. Marcia Farina