Thanks for the excellent info about the Kentucky Land Records being online now. Maybe I had better take my heavy laptop on vacation after all!!! No, about California land office. As far as I know, there is no such office. Please re-read my message about State Land States. All land acquired by the Federal government beginning with the Louisiana Purchase (1812, if my memory is not failing as bad as I sometimes perceive it is) belonged/belongs to the Federal government in the beginning. The states did not control the issuance of federal land after that acquisition--the Louisiana Purchase--from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana and Mississippi land and states formed from those States were controlled by the Federal government. This is quite complicated, as many persons were already there and had received grants from Spain and Britain, so Congress had to have people make claims, etc. Someday when you have a LOT of time, take a look at a computerized index called Grassroots of America. (Look for this book on the Family History Library Catalog. The author is Philip W. McMullin [sp?] and I believe the thick index has been microfilmed. The claims to the Federal Government were contained in some hefty volumes called American State Papers and McMullin's book is an INDEX, which is badly needed for the volumes concerning Land.) If you are going to study a new State when beginning some research there, it helps to do a little reading about the history of the State, its laws [different from State to State, remember?] and its land policies. (For example, any State in the US which came under Spanish rule at one time or other has community property laws!!! That includes most of the Southwest and Western states. Better read up on that--particularly if you are a female!!!) Louisiana operates under the Napoleonic law, I am told by Louisiana folks--French law! The original 13 colonies and those states formed from those 13 colonies [don't ask me for all of them, but a few I know--Kentucky was formed from Virginia, Tennessee was formed from North Carolina], etc. have their own land offices. According to the older Texas almanacs, Texas had so many debts when it wanted to join the Union that Congress [or whoever makes these decisions about acquiring land] didn't want it. It finally relented and said, You can keep your land--and your DEBTS!!! (This is my unscholarly interpretation of the Texas Almanac, older versions, which I sometimes collect.) So, Texas has its own Land Commission. If your friend in California [am I reading you right?] wants to know whether his/her ancestor acquired land in California from the Federal Government, he/she should do some searching on this website: _http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/_ (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/) [Remove any punctuation which may be added fore and aft before pasting] Click on land patents at the top to do a general search. A few weeks ago when I was searching for my spouse's grandfather's name, who filed a pre-emption claim behind an old Spanish mission in California, the website told me that the data California had not been finished. But that was a few weeks ago. Now, after a person acquired the land from the Federal government, he could, of course, assign it or sell it, etc. and that transaction would be between private individuals, and if the persons were smart, they would record this transaction at the county level--a deed--not a patent. There is a difference between a grant [or patent] and a deed. (In Kentucky, for example, I have been able to *paste together* families from the deeds as well as the wills. That's why we genealogists still bend over a microfilm reader to read OLD deeds. New deeds are interesting too!!!) But, I am not a real estate person nor an attorney, so consult a good law dictionary or some genealogical guide book such as almost any edition of The Soruce [several editions], all good. Ask your public librarian if this book is in the Reference section of the library. (A lot of good books are behind the Librarian's desk and do not circulate!!!! No secret--but some folks have not learned to snoop around a library.) E.W.Wallace This is copied from the catalog entry from the Family History Library catalog. I did a title search for Grassroots of America. [This does not apply to State Land States, such as Kentucky.] By doing either a Title search or an author search [I seldom remember how to spell exactly McMullin's name]. These list mainly people who were making claims soon after the Louisiana Purchase -- they were already on the land-- and does not apply to more modern land claims. [Grassroots of America] This is an index to Class 8 & 9, Public lands and claims, of the American State Papers . This title is part of the Family History Center Microfiche Project. Ask your Family History Center director for more information. ____________________________________ **************Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides. (http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000016)