>I have come a cross a great website with Homestead and Government Cash >Entry sales of land. > >The Bureau of Land Management has a website at: > http://www.glorecords.blm.gov > >It has land records that were sold by the government and you can print out >or view land patents. These were granted per the 1820 land grant Act and >the 1863 Homestead Act. They have records for the Eastern Public Domain >States. They include: Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, >Missouri, Ohio and a few other states. They are suppose to be adding more >states soon. Check it out. You may have to download a TIFF program but, >it is free if you choose the right one. Read the listings. >I went to the National Archives in DC this week and viewed the actual files >for my ancestors and others I am doing research for. It was a great and >awesome feeling to handle the records that they had signed. There is some >genealogy info on many of the records. You can also obtain the files by >getting a form 84 and mailing it in to the National Archives. The cost is >$10.00 per file. You can also request the patents from the Bureau of Land >Management from the website but, I think you only get the patent, not the file. > >