Land in Ohio was transferred to private ownership by state and federal land grants. This was the first public domain land ever made available for private ownership. The rectangular land survey system (section, township, and range), established by the Land Ordinance of 1785, was first applied to federal land grants in Ohio.

Prior to the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, the colonies of Connecticut, Virginia, New York, and Massachusetts all had claim on land that is now part of Ohio. Only Virginia and Connecticut continued to claim specific areas of Ohio land after 1787.

Federal Land Grants

The Ohio Company First Purchase. This land was sold by the Continental Congress to an association of former officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary War from Massachusetts and nearby areas. The Ohio Company Second Purchase, made in 1792, was acquired by redeeming military bounty land warrants obtained by the association. Original records of the Ohio Company of Associates are in the custody of Marietta College, Dawes Memorial Library, Marietta, Ohio.

The Donation Tract. One hundred-acre parcels were offered to legal-age males who would occupy the land immediately, thus becoming a buffer between the Indians and those settling on the Ohio Company Purchases. Deeds were issued by the Ohio Company of Associates until 1818, when the Marietta Land Office obtained jurisdiction of unclaimed lands.

Symmes Purchase or Miami Purchase. Purchased partly with military bounty land warrants, the survey for this land was done privately and does not conform to the United States rectangular survey system. Symmes and many of the first settlers in this area came from New Jersey or had ties to New Jersey.

The United States Military District. Ohio land was granted to soldiers from any state who served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. The tracts were 4,000 acres each, yet military bounty land warrants allowed between 100 acres for a soldier and 1,100 acres for a major general. Since few people could buy the remaining thousands of acres, some pooled warrants and subdivided their tract among themselves. Others sold their warrants to land speculators.

Moravian Indian Grants. The United Brethren Church was issued the grant as trustee for Indian converts who sustained great losses in 1782.

French Grants. Lands were granted to 101 Frenchmen who bought land by the Scioto Company, which had no land to sell legally.

Refugee Tract. Lands were granted to refugees from Canada who came to the Colonies before 4 July 1776 and who aided the cause of the Colonies during the Revolutionary War.

Congress Lands. Tracts of 320 acres were purchased by individuals. Because buyers paid 25 percent in cash and had four years to pay the balance, the property was exempt from taxes for the first five years after being purchased.

The first land offices to sell Congress lands were established in 1800. When land in one district was almost completely distributed, the few parcels left were sold by a new land office that had opened up further west. Arranged by first year of operation, the federal land offices in Ohio were located in Steubenville, 1800 to 1840; Marietta, 1800 to 1840; Chillicothe, 1801 to 1876; Cincinnati, 1801 to 1840; Zanesville, 1804 to 1840; Canton, 1808 to 1816; Wooster, 1816 to 1840; Delaware, 1820 to 1828; Piqua, 1820 to 1833; Tiffin, 1828 to 1832; Bucyrus, 1832 to 1842; Wapakoneta, 1833 to 1835; Lima, 1835 to 1843; Marion, 1837 to 1845; Upper Sandusky, 1843 to 1848; and Defiance, 1848 to 1855.

The Between the Miamis Survey or Ludlow's Survey. Though surveyed by the federal government, these lands continued the unorthodox survey system used in the adjoining Symmes Purchase, mentioned above.

Federal Grants to the State were given for various purposes. Grants were given for school, swamp, ministerial, canal, wagon road or turnpike, and university lands. Grants were also given for salt reservations and other purposes. Acts of the Ohio State Legislature determined how these lands were used, granted or sold.

State Land Grants

Virginia Military District was surveyed in 1787, and the first patent was issued in 1796. Bounty land warrants issued for military service in Virginia during the Revolutionary War or the French and Indian Wars were redeemed for land in Kentucky or in this district of Ohio. The first owners may not have been from Virginia and may not have been soldiers, since warrants could be inherited, sold, or legally assigned. Lands were described by metes and bounds in this district and are identified in deeds, tax lists, and other records by the original survey number assigned to each parcel. Original records for this district are found at the National Archives—Suitland Branch; the Bureau of Land Management, Springfield, Virginia; the [Ohio] Auditor of State's Land Office (address to follow); and the Ohio Historical Society.

Connecticut Western Reserve was sold to the Connecticut Land Company in 1795. The land was divided into shares in 1798. The Connecticut State Library and the Western Reserve Historical Library, described in the “Archives and Libraries” section of this outline, have extensive collections pertaining to the Western Reserve and the Firelands.

Firelands or Sufferers Lands. In 1781, nine towns in Connecticut were destroyed by the British. These lands in the west end of the Western Reserve were granted by Connecticut to the sufferers, their heirs, or assignees. Land was partitioned in 1808. See The Firelands Pioneer. Norwalk, Ohio: Firelands Historical Society, 1858-1878. (FHL book 977.1 B2f; film 1320962 items 1-13, vols. 1-13; book 977.1 B2f index 1858-1937; film 1320941 item 1; Obituary index, book 977.1 B2f index supp. 1857-1909, fiche 6088685.)"

The following publications discuss the development of the various land districts in more detail:

Dyer, Albion Morris. First Ownership of Ohio Lands. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1911. (FHL book 977.1 R21d; film 833375.) Reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1969. (FHL book 977.1 R21d 1969; film 908281 item 7.)

Hutchinson, William Thomas. The Bounty Lands of the American Revolution in Ohio. New York: Arno Press, 1979. (FHL book 977.1 R2h.) Interesting chapter titles include “The public domain as an instrument of war,” “From warrant to patent for the Virginia Military District and the United States Military District,” and “The UNmilitary United States Military District.”

Peters, William Edwards. Ohio Lands and Their History. 3rd. ed. Ann Arbor, Michigan: U.M.I., Out- of-Print Books on Demand, 1991. (FHL book 977.1 H2pw.)

Petro, Jim. Ohio Lands: A Short History. [Columbus], Ohio: Ohio Auditor of State, 1994. (FHL book 977.1 A1 no. 645; a previous edition is on film 908043 item 6 and fiche 6051236.) This booklet is free from the auditor of state.

Sherman, Christopher E. Original Ohio Land Subdivisions. Vol. 3, Final Report: Ohio Cooperative Topographic Survey. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources. Division of Geological Survey, 1982. (FHL book 977.1 R2she 1982; previous edition on film 896753 item 2.) This includes detailed maps.

Land Grant Records

Ohio. Auditor of State. Canal Lands. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1959. (On 50 FHL films beginning with 182671.) Includes leases (1832-1936), sales (1801-1851), and other papers. Many papers are arranged by section, range, and township.

Ohio. Auditor of State. Miscellaneous Lands. Columbus, Ohio; Salt Lake City, Utah: Columbus Microfilm, Inc., 1995: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1954-1958. (On 23 FHL films beginning with 196135.)

Ohio. Auditor of State. Plats to U.S. Lands in Ohio but not Including Virginia Military District, Connecticut Western Reserve, Fire Lands, nor Symmes Purchase. Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1958. (On 10 films beginning with 182617 item 1; another filming on 6 FHL films beginning with 196198.)

Ohio. Auditor of State. School Lands. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1995. (On 52 FHL films beginning with 2022507 item 1.)

Ohio. Auditor of State. Tract Books and Index for U.S. Lands in Ohio but not Including Virginia Military District, Connecticut Western Reserve, Fire Lands and Symmes Purchase. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1955; Columbus, Ohio: Columbus Microfilm, 1995. (On 31 FHL films beginning with 1992722.)

Ohio. Auditor of State. Virginia Military District Lands of Ohio; Indexes. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1995, 1958. (On 33 FHL films beginning with 2022655 item 3.)

Ohio. Surveyor General. Field Books to U.S. Lands in Ohio but not Including Virginia Military District, Connecticut Western Reserve, Fire Lands, nor Symmes Purchase. Columbus, Ohio: Columbus Microfilm, 1954-1957. (On 90 FHL films beginning with 196228 item 7.) Arranged by section, range, and township.

United States. Bureau of Land Management. Township Plats of Selected States. Washington, D.C.: National Archives, 1979. (FHL films 1578331-397; Ohio is on films 1578384-388.) Many of these plats show their drainage, roads, trails, boundaries of private land claims, physical features, and the township and section lines.

United States. General Land Office. U.S. Revolutionary War Bounty Land Warrants Used in the U.S. Military District of Ohio and Related Papers, Acts of 1788, 1803, 1806. Washington, D.C.: The National Archives, 1971. (FHL films 1025141-56.) Contains land warrants dated 1789 to 1833 and related papers dated as late as 1880. The first film is an index to the collection.

United States. Land Office (Ohio). Land Records of the Various Districts of Ohio. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1958. (FHL films 182624-70.) Registers of receipts, certificates, and entries for various land offices in Ohio, 1788 to 1876. Most are in chronological order of the transaction. Records contain the name of the purchaser, date of transaction, description of the land, and sometimes the residence of the purchaser and other information. Most volumes are not indexed by name.

Since Ohio officials had an interest in tracking the owner of Ohio lands for taxing and other purposes, many records of federal land sales and grants, as well as those for Ohio, Virginia, and Connecticut, are in the custody of the Auditor of State's Land Office. Their collection includes copies of the plats of land distribution and the names of the original owners.

Ohio Land Office
Auditor of State
P.O. Box 1140
88 East Broad Street
Columbus, OH 43266-0040
Telephone: 614-466-4514
Fax: 614-466-6228