My friends - About once every quarter, I repost the instructions on how to order the case files for Kentucky Land Grants. I have had several inquiries over the past week about this subject, so tonight's posting will be a review of how these case files can be ordered. This is an updated version, and includes the new web site URL for the Kentucky Land Office. They now have a printable order form you can download and use to order the case files. We will close out our week tomorrow with another in the Skills Puzzler series. -B ============================================================ I have had numerous requests for information on how to go about ordering copies of the case files connected with Jackson Purchase Land Grants in Kentucky. Today, I am going to explain the steps in requesting copies of these case files from the Kentucky Land Office. If you have an interest in this material, you may wish to print this out and retain it, although I will archive it and re-run it on the List from time to time for our new subscribers, or for those who develop an interest in researching land grants later on. As most of you know, we are particularly fortunate in the Jackson Purchase area, because the land grants were plotted through the Federal Rectangular Survey System, while the rest of KY used the "Metes & Bounds" system of land surveying. The RSS, which uses the Section, Township and Range methodology, is, by far, the easiest system to use to pinpoint the land on which your forebears lived. If you are somewhat hazy on how the Rectangular Survey System(RSS)works, you may wish to visit my on-line course in US Land & Property Research at the International Internet Genealogical Society University at http://users.arn.net/~billco/uslpr.htm and go through the lesson on Metes & Bounds and Township and Range surveying. By using a map of any county in the JP, and overlaying the RSS on it, you can determine exactly where the land which your ancestors received is located today. For example, I own 100 acres in NE Calloway County, and through the use of the RSS, I was able to determine that a part of that land, at one time, belonged to my ggg-gf, Richard Skaggs.You can do the same thing. In order to request anything from the Kentucky Land Office, you need to know, in the case of the JP, the name of the grantee, the Grant Book Number and Page, and the Section, Township & Range. In addition, it is always good to reference the page number(s) from Willard Rouse Jillson's huge work, "The Kentucky Land Grants". The Land Office uses those page numbers to double check if there is a discrepancy in the request. Once you have the above info, you can request any part, or all, of the documents in the case file for the grant. I always request "all documents". You can request up to ten (10) grants in one letter. You need not send any money with your request - the Land Office will send you an invoice for the copying charges(which are very reasonable at about 25 cents a page, as I recall)when they send you the document copies. Kandie Adkinson handles this work for the Land Office. She has been doing it for a long time and is an old pro at it. You must, however, be patient - a 4-8 week wait is not unusual, depending on how busy she is. She also handles the requests from the mining engineers, and she gets almost as many requests from them as she does from genealogists. You can submit your request to the Land Office by mail or FAX. The Land Office suggests appointments be made if you want to visit them in person, due to the limited staff which they have. The mailing address is: Kandice P. Adkinson Kentucky Land Office Office of the Secretary of State 700 Capitol Avenue Room 75, State Capitol Frankfort, KY 40601 If you would like to FAX your request(which can reduce the waiting time by about a week), the FAX number is: (502)564-4075. The Kentucky Land Office now has their own web site, as well, which contains information and order forms which you can print out. The URL is: http://www.sos.state.ky.us/ADMIN/LANDOFFI/landoff2.htm ============================================================