Claims to French and Spanish Grants

In the early 1800s many land claims were filed as Missouri residents tried to document claims to lands previously granted by the French and Spanish. In 1805, the U.S. Congress established a Board of Commissioners to confirm earlier grants.

Some of these records have been published in sources such as the American State Papers. An index to the claims made from 1795 to 1812 is on FHL film 984777. The names in the American State Papers (on microfilm at the Family History Library) have also been published in:

McMullin, Phillip, ed. Grassroots of America. Salt Lake City: Gendex Co., 1972. (FHL book 973 R2ag index; fiche 6051323.)

First Settlers of the Missouri Territory. 2 vols. Nacogdoches, Tex.: Ericson Books, 1983. (FHL book 977.8 R2f.)

Land claims have been explained and documented in:

“Private Land Claims in Missouri”, in State Historical Society of Missouri Missouri Historical Review. Columbia, Mo.: The Society; Vol. 50, p. 132-44. (FHL book 977.8 B2mr.)

Missouri Land Claims. New Orleans: Polyanthos, 1976. (FHL book 977.8 R2m; film 1036517 item 2.) This volume is a reprint of the 1835 Congressional Report, and has land claims for 1796-1835.

Federal Land Grants

After the United States obtained possession of the area that became Missouri, land was surveyed and distributed through eight federal land offices, the earliest of which opened in 1818. The General Land Office in Washington, D.C., also distributed many of the state's public domain lands between 1818 and 1922. This process has been explained in Gary W. Beahan, Missouri's Public Domain: United States Land Sales, 1818-1922 (Jefferson City: Records Management and Archives Services, 1980; FHL book 977.8 R2mi).

Records of the local land offices are in the Missouri State Archives. Tract books, plat maps, and land patents are in:

Bureau of Land Management Eastern States Office
7450 Boston Blvd.
Springfield, VA 22153
Telephone: 703-440-1600
Fax: 703-440-1609