In 1814 land in Illinois was bought directly from the U.S. government - the Public Domain Land Sales database on the Illinois State Archives (ISA) web site http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/data_lan.html has all of these indexed from the land office tract books. The Bureau of Land Management web site (down until/through? July) has also indexed their copy of the tract books (date differences reflect purchase vs issue date) and posted images of the purchases online (additional info and link on the ISA site above). Military Bounty Lands issued in Illinois' Military Tract for War of 1812 service are in northern Illinois. The ISA web site has a map of this area - a google search will also turn up several maps. Most original patentees sold their patents by 1825 and did not settle in the Tract; many lost them because of an ambiguous tax law. Many issues over this land are summarized in James D. Wallker's introduction to the book, War of 1812 Bounty Lands in Illinois, indexed by Volkel and reprinted by Heritage House, 1977; available in many libraries. Any ancestor in Illinois close to statehood (1818) should also search the various land claims for preemptions, militia claims, lands granted by foreign governments, and squattors' rights. The 'first look' source for these the Raymond Hammes Collection of Early Land Records - available at the Belleville Public Library on microfilm, http://www.compu-type.net/rengen/stclair/BPL.htm and the Illinois State Archives, among others. Diane ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marita Gladson" <maritag@earthlink.net> To: <ILSTCLAI-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, June 03, 2005 9:54 PM Subject: [ILSTCLAI] St. Clair > Where would I find land grants or land bounties for the year 1816-1817? > > Seth Hodges voted in the election for statehood and he was in the area > near O'fallon. > > Where might I find his land? > > He later moved to Macoupin Co. I have his land record for 1823 and > following. He died there in `1841 > > Thanks > Marita > >