In a message dated 4/8/2005 9:54:32 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, MaryLAdams@comcast.net writes: Hi Neil, Do you know if there were any military bounty land warrants issued in Gallia Co.? I thought all of the county was part of the Ohio Company. I've been all over the BLM web site and can't find any info about this parcel of land. When I search by the certificate # the results show a different legal description located in Lawrence Co. Where did you find the Gilliland patent for this piece. I see him as having patent on two pieces of Gallia Co land, but not for this same legal description. My Eben Donelson was in the war of 1812, but not much info exists on his service. I've never found anything on him receiving a military warrant for land in the indices, but there incomplete. If this land wasn't a military warrant, would the procedure have been that an interested party would find a piece of land they wanted, apply to have it surveyed, then pay to have a warrant issued? What was the purpose of the warrant? Was it a right to buy or putting a hold on the land, or purchase? Could someone have intended to sell the right to purchase without actually ever having purchased it themselves or taken possession? Thanks again for the help. Mary North Bend, WA > There were three steps that were required in order to obtain land from the > federal government. 1. Survey. The applicant first had to apply to have > the > land surveyed. 2. Warrant. After the survey, a warrant was obtained. > There was a fee involved. This gave the applicant access to the land. > 3. > Patent. A patent granted full title to the land and involved a final > fee. > Sometimes there was just a brief period between obtaining the warrant and > getting > the patent. Sometimes it was years or even decades. If the land was > abandoned before obtaining patent, I believe the land would revert back > to the > federal government. > > Much of the land in Gallia County was initially obtained from the federal > government by the Ohio Company, which in turn then sold it in much smaller > parcels to settlers. The land that was not initially owned by the Ohio > Company > was acquired by settlers by the survey, warrant and patent process. > Copies of > the patents are available from the BLM web site. For a small fee, you > can > even obtain certified copies, and the very earliest patents (I think > before > about 1840 ) even bear the actual signature of the president of the > United > States. > > Neil E. > Folsom, CA > > > ==== OHGALLIA Mailing List ==== > If you want to unsubscribe to the list, send an email to > OHGALLIA-L-REQUEST@rootsweb.com with the word unsubscribe in the text of > the email. > > ==== OHGALLIA Mailing List ==== Please keep your topic related to genealogical research in Gallia County, Ohio. The warrant gave the person the right to use the land. Often there were certain conditions that had to have been met before patent could be obtained. For instance the 1862 Homestead Act required that a certain amount of the land had to be in agricultural production the first year, and that some improvements had to be made before patent was issued. There was a five year waiting period before patent could be obtained. Most of the federal land that was obtained by settlers in Ohio, however, was obtained under a land act that was passed in 1820, and the requirements were different. For instance for a higher price the land could be obtained after only about a six month waiting period. Military bounty land was not necessarily given in the same county where the person resided, and it was very common for the recipients to sell the warrant, with the patent then ultimately going to the person who bought the warrant. The land my gg-grandfather got in 1855 was near Cincinnati. The rules for bounty land from the War of 1812 changed several times, and in 1855 those who had as little as two weeks of active service became eligible. You should be able to obtain the warrant number from NARA from the person's War of 1812 military file. Ask for the complete file. Often they just send selected parts. It's possible the BLM didn't manage bounty land. Maybe someone else on the list would know. A John Donelson obtained a patent in 1846 in that same township (section 31 instead of section 12). Townships and ranges in Gallia County must be skewed by some sort of correction line, because I have never been able to figure out just where those land descriptions fall, so I don't know which township that was in. (Hint--it would be a nice project for the historical society to develop a simple map showing the townships with their respective township and range numbers) Neil E. Folsom, CA