Thank you for your Excellent explanation of the procedure. It clears up for me why my ancestor's name was not listed with the Original Owners, yet he Was an original owner of Penn land -- he evidently purchased his small 100 acre tract from an Owner of a larger tract. He Warrant for Survey was dated 1682, and I would really like to know if he arranged for the 100 acres while still in England -- it isn't likely he would have come to America without knowing where he was going. Any further thoughts on this subject? Carol

I'd say you have an interesting document. Does this warrant describe a seller, financial terms and acreage by landmarks and boundary description? Or that someone is entitled to 100 acres of land in a township? In the old history of the land sales starting in 1682 and into the late 1700 on up to the revolution only two documents are mentioned in connection with land sales that I remember, warrants and patents. In several Chester Co.land sale transactions in the very early 1800's by my ancestors they were titled "Deeds", although it mentions the land belonged to his father before him and his father obtained the land from "The West New Jersey Society" and it was now free and clear to sell to the next purchaser. I haven't attempted to find out any more about these land deals yet since the microfilm copying machine at the FHC I have access to is broke, and has been for over a year, and I would like to copy these old documents before I look at any more film. The words warrant are mention first and patent second. The word deed is not used. It's like you receive a Warrant for Survey". The surveyor executes the warrant. He actually measures some land somewhere and certifies the boundaries and your land does not encroach on someone else's land. Now, do you now receive a "Warrant of Survey" and then the purchaser could obtain a patent? Does the words "of" and "for" mean two different documents? If your document does not describe this land and only indicates the purchase of 100 acres, then where is the land? It seems there's a lot more questions then answers. I suppose we could ask the experts at Century 21? Some early history books mention that first purchasers who paid for the land in England had "Warrants of Survey" that apparent defined the exact location of the land and that a better title was not needed, but the smart buyer would obtain a patent. My guess is that once the new immigrant arrives in PA and moves onto his property he would, by English custom, go to the local court house and register the land. The patents or deeds I've look at have a numbering system used by the court clerks and were written on the documents and entered in ledger books with duplicate documents. This way the land transactions were traceable. Was this the procedure in 1682? I don't know. Also, land purchases were financed by large land holders in England and warrants were given which did not give title to the first purchaser until the mortgage was paid off. Many of these early settlers sold the land using these warrant's along with the property improvements, like build a house, made some money and bought other land or headed west. The new purchaser then had to deal with the mortgage holder. The first purchaser never had title to the land, it remained with the original proprietor. Were all these deals made fair and square? I doubt it.