Peter wrote on Thu, 25 Nov 2004 : >Hi RDW, > ... and i can pay you a little for running it down. There are times it is appropriate for hiring a researcher, but this ain't one of 'em (and I'm neither a genealogist nor a land-title expert so it wouldn't be me in any case ... ) Moving right along ... Peter, if you have a computer online at home you can probably do your own research, most of it literally as "homework" ... if you don't have one at home, get thee to your public library where you will find both internet terminals for public use AND the (free) services of a professional researcher = never underestimate the importance of a good Public Librarian who can develop a strategy to find the information you seek, and show you the tools to do it with. First thing is to precisely locate the land as described on the range / township description -- once you've got that you can locate very easily on modern [ a De Lorme state atlas, a map of the County or Reserve, county plat map, etc.] Summary of range/township survey system : http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/Visitors/PLSS.asp Libraries often have plat maps, often in 19th century atlas with range / twp data clearly shown. And you can get 1915 plats of Sawyer County here : http://www.rootsweb.com/~wisawyer/1915plat.htm Once you're sure you can locate the parcel properly, go to the jurisdiction(s) in which it rests -- Sawyer County and/or the Lac Court Oreilles reserve are going to have histories of who owned / paid taxes on every parcel in their domain, but only in their original form = you have to go to them. Call first and identify the property to them, etc. I found no patent for that parcel at Bureau of Land Management site : http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/ which isn't a surprise, given it was an allotment and not a sale or grant. People researching land records need to know, however, that one can search backwards from a rang / township location using BLM's "Standard" search (state level) page -- you don't need or have to rely on surnames. --- You probably do want to look for more than allotments -- records of annuity payments and tribal census / rolls, if they exist, may be available from State of Wisconsin libraries / archives, or from a research library (UW or State Historical Society, for instance), and/or Great Lakes Regional or National Archives. You're going to have to search several depositories. Do separate searches for tribe / band name(s), treaty / annuity / allotment dates, etc. = you should have all that data at hand along with the land location to find genealogical data, search census records. Again, a Good Librarian can tune you in on the right search terms and devices. Come back here if you're still having trouble; try to make questions as specific as possible. regards - rdw

Out of EXTREME curiosity... If there is a land patent in the name of our ancesters ... located on the site sugested... Does that mean the land is still owned by them? Is there anyway of finding out if it was sold or not? Anita ----- Original Message ----- From: "R D Winthrop" <RDWinthrop@a1access.net> To: <NISHNAWBE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, November 26, 2004 2:51 PM Subject: Re: [NISHNAWBE] land patent > Peter wrote on Thu, 25 Nov 2004 : > > >Hi RDW, > > > ... and i can pay you a little for running it down. > > There are times it is appropriate for hiring a researcher, but this > ain't one of 'em (and I'm neither a genealogist nor a land-title