I think land law development is a very complicated but fascinating topic; I wish I understood more of it than I do, but here are a few partial answers to the questions Jo raised recently. As someone noted, northwest Louisiana was originally all Natchitoches Parish, northeast Louisiana Ouachita Parish. Claiborne Parish was formed in 1828 from Natchitoches, Union formed in 1839 from Ouachita Parish. The United States land officers began work surveying what is now north Louisiana in the 1820s and 1830s. However, they had not completed the surveying and platting of the land that now makes up the parishes of Union, Claiborne, and Webster until the mid-1830s. Thus, although many whites lived on this land earlier than this, in most cases they did not actually possess a clear title to the land until they purchased it from the government beginning in the 1830s (I think there were some cases of Spanish grants made to long-time settlers and the US government honored these, but most that I know of dealt with land in Ouachita & Morehouse Parishes). The concept of "preemption" allowed citizens who settled, improved, cultivated, etc. land that was not yet available for sale from the government to hold a right of "first choice" to purchase the land from the govt. when it finally became available. This was a "hot button" political issue of the day and led to conflict between "easterners" and "westerners". Also, all land after 1820 had to be purchased with cash, in person at the regional land office, unless a power of attorney was presented to a land officer. In all "public domain" Southern States such as Louisiana (those states in which the US government owned the land and distributed it to the citizens through sale), the government set up regional land offices. The office for northeast Louisiana (including all of that portion of the state that was originally in Ouachita Parish) was in Monroe and was originally called the "Ouachita Land Office". In the 1850s, its name changed to the "Monroe Land Office". The land office for northwest Louisiana (that portion of the state that was originally in Natchitoches Parish) was called the "Natchitoches Land Office". This means that if a settler wanted to buy government land that was in present-day Union Parish, he would merely have to travel to the land office at Monroe, whereas if a citizen wanted to purchase government land in present-day Claiborne Parish, he would have to travel the long distance to Natchitoches to the land office there. If a citizen wanted to purchase land that lay in present-day Lincoln Parish, where he had to travel to purchase the land depended upon in which original parish it lay at the time - Union or Claiborne or Jackson, etc. So each land office covered land located in numerous parishes in the surrounding region. At the site: http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/ the land office is listed where the person purchased the land. If you look at the image of the patent for the land (available on that site), the residence of the person who purchased the land is given. However, the index for this site gives the PRESENT-DAY PARISH in which the land purchased is located today, not where it was located back then, when it was purchased from the government. For example, if you search for "Joseph A. Meeks" on the above site in Louisiana, you'll see land listed as in Webster Parish. If you look in more detail, you'll see he bought this at the Natchitoches Land Office, but that the patent shows his residence was Claiborne Parish. The explanation: the land he wished to purchase lay at that time in Claiborne Parish Meeks' residence at the time, but in 1871 this became Webster Parish. He had to travel to the Natchitoches Land Office to buy the land then because that is the office at which land in Claiborne Parish was offered for sale. Final Comment: The dates given for when settlers received a patent for their land in the above index are from the Bureau of Land Management records - the official Land Patents from the government to settlers. These official patents were made SEVERAL YEARS AFTER the settler actually purchased the land at the land office. In many cases, the settler had sold the land or was even dead by the time he received an official patent from the government, normally 2-3 years after he had purchased the land. The records that hold the most genealogical value are the earlier records, called Cash Entry Records after 1820. Those records often contain the original signatures of the settler, show the precise date on which he went to the land office and purchased the land, how much he paid, and occasionally, from what bank account he paid for the land, how many acres he had in cultivation, etc. These records are not held by the Bureau of Land Management but by the National Archives. It costs $17.50 per file to order these cash entry records from the archives (you can request the appropriate form you need to order copies on the National Archives website). An alternative to this expensive fee exists: order the land tract books from the LDS libraries for $3.25 per reel. I'll explain further to anyone interested. Tim Hudson P.S. My source for much of the above information is the 1969 work by Paul W. Gates, "History of Public Land Law Development", available in most large libraries. There are other, more recent works, but I have not used them as much. -----Original Message----- From: JO COX [mailto:jocox@arkansas.net] Sent: Sunday, October 05, 2003 10:23 PM To: LACLAIBO-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [LACLAIBO] Land location help Kelly, I am really confused. After my question was posted, someone suggested the beurau of land management wabpage and I checked there. It was listed as being in Webster Parish, but I have found out that Webster wasn't formed until 1871. Someone sent me the following: At one time all of northwest Louisiana was Natchitoches Parish. Claiborne Parish was the first Parish carved out of Natchitoches, that being authorized by Act 42 of the 1828 State Legislature. Caddo Parish was carved out of Natchitoches in 1838. Bossier Parish was taken from Claiborne in 1843, Bienville from Claiborne in 1848 and Webster from parts of Bienville, Claiborne and Bossier in 1871. Anyway, you can see why I am confused. The BOL records showed Webster Parish, the transactions were in 1851, bus was listed under John H. Aule of CLAIBORNE Parish. If you can help clear this up, I will sure appreciate it. The BOL showed the location as: Aliquot parts sec twns range E½NE 7/ 21-N 9-W W½NW 8/ 21-N 9-W NENW 7/ 21-N 9-W I think this may be different to what I found on Ancestry, maybe there was an error in transcription. Well, I really do thank you for all your trouble. Jo ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kelly Priestly" <troubles@tecinfo.com> To: <LACLAIBO-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, October 05, 2003 9:30 PM Subject: Re: [LACLAIBO] Land location help > Jo, > Township 9N is in Natchitoches Parish. Are you sure that these are for > Claibonre? Could it really be Township 19N? If it is 19N, then the > first and third are near Athens. On the second one, Range 8W is in > Webster Parish. Be sure that you copied this right and I can give you a > more specific location. > Kel > > JO COX wrote: > > >Kelly, thanks so much, that would be great !! There are three. > >Legal Land Description: > ># Aliquot Parts Block # Base Line Fractional Section Township Range Section > ># 1E½NELOUISIANANo21 N9 W7 > > > ># Aliquot Parts Block # Base Line Fractional Section Township Range Section > ># 1W½NWLOUISIANANo21 N9 W8 > > > ># Aliquot Parts Block # Base Line Fractional Section Township Range Section > ># 1NENWLOUISIANANo21 N9 W7 > > > >I really appreciate the help. > > > >Jo > > > > > > > > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > > > ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237