Janine, Unfortunately Land records are not always that simple and each State had its on regulations when it comes to giving out the land during this time period. I really haven't done much research on Land records in Ohio. But a good publication from the Ohio Auditor's offices describing how Ohio land was distributed, Land offices, etc is here http://www.auditor.state.oh.us/publications/general/alongtheohiotrail.pdf<http://www.auditor.state.oh.us/publications/general/alongtheohiotrail.pdf> Gives you an explanation on the different districts. If he were a squatter it would have been an illegal transaction because these were Congress/Military Lands. Although there were problems with squatter prior to the 1787 Northwest Territory act, this Act prevented squatters from taking of the land. The majority of Ross county as you might know was part of the Virginia Military District and the other portion was in Congress Lands. Bureau Land Management has 25 volumes of the VMD warrants; the BLM has indexed about half of them; the rest were multi-page documents and will be indexed later. Chillicothe, I believe, was the local land office for the VMD. The Univ of Virginia holds all the Soldier's applications for VMD. The Ohio Archives have a significant amount of local land records. I believe they have the Virginia Military Dist records for Ohio. There are many scenarios one must consider when researching land records. The land could have passed from mother to son by will with proof only in the probate records, or it could have passed by intestate probate and not be recorded at all. It could also be that the two persons are unrelated and that one person sold the land to someone, who then turned around and sold it to Major, neither of the deeds being recorded. Deed that are sometimes drawn upon the death of the owner, should list all the heirs to the property (especially if the person died without a will) and may provide clues as to their areas of residence. Let's say that after the death of Major, his children all sell his remaining property. If the girls are listed on the deed as there married name etc., the deed will be indexed in the grantor index under that married name. It might not appear in the grantor index under the name Lingrell at all. If I you are not aware of a married name in the other children of Major except for your direct line (one of his sons), you may miss this informative record. This example makes an excellent point of the importance of searching for ancestral siblings in certain records, especially those records that are not indexed under the name of every party mentioned in the record. So the fact that you cannot find a Deed in Major's name doesn't mean that the Deed to the land does not exist, it just exist under another name. May be under the Executors name. If you know the tract of land in Marion Co, in which the executor deeded after his death, you could then just research that tract of land back to the original surveyor rather than researching back under your ancestors name. Learn as much as you can about researching Land Records, specifically in Ohio. Again, each State is different and what might exist in one State may not in another. Also since county lines changed quite often in the time period you are researching, don't over look the counties in which Marion was formed from. He may have not moved, just the county lines moved, so his record may not be in Marion but possibly Franklin..etc But of all the records out there Land Records are more complete than any other record you will research and Land records such as property tax lists, deeds and deed indexes, and the written transcripts of real estate transactions all go back further in time than any other type of record we use in research. I know you can get both the VMD & Congress Land Records, I just don't know for sure where you can get them for Ohio. I wish I could help you more on this, but I just don't know enough about Ohio Land Records. Maybe someone else on the board might have better knowledge of where you can locate these items. Chyrl Lawrence-Bulger Ross County Coordinator OHGenWeb www.rootsweb.com/~ohross ----- Original Message ----- From: JanKohl57@aol.com<mailto:JanKohl57@aol.com> To: ohross@rootsweb.com<mailto:ohross@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2007 11:57 AM Subject: Re: [OHROSS] Major Lingrell Chyrl, Thanks so much for responding. I've used the LDS before for other family lines, but I hadn't yet looked to see what they might have for Ross co.. I'm going to order a couple of those you mentioned. Question...I've not been able to find land deeds for Major Lingrell in either Ross or Marion co., where he died, although in Marion co. I've found his executor deeding Major's land after he'd died. Since I can't find any evidence of him purchasing land in Ross or Marion co.'s, am I to assume he would have been considered a "Squater " His land in Marion co. was just a little north of the Virginia Military lands district and was in "Congress Land" What does this mean and is there a way of looking into these records? Thank you so much for your help. Janine by the way...I knew Major was in Dorchester co. in 1800(had a brain bubble). I meant to say he was in Ross co. in 1805 ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour<http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour> ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to OHROSS-request@rootsweb.com<mailto:OHROSS-request@rootsweb.com> with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message