California Land and Property

Online Resources
Bureau of Land Management - General Land Office Records
 * The General Land Office Records (GLO) at Bureau of Land Management - search for patents for California private land claims; search by name, or by "Grant-Spanish/Mexican" Authority; click on "Related Documents" to download and see the document.

Indexes and Records Maps
 * 1692-1846 New Mexico, U.S., Land Records of New Spain, 1692-1846 at Ancestry ($), index and images
 * 1784-1868 California, U.S., Spanish Land Records, 1784-1868 at Ancestry ($); Index and Images; Images of index to Spanish Archives, MF8:4(24), Spanish Archives Originals, MF2:9(32-35), and translations MF2:9(35-39); Also at: 
 * 1820-1908 at FamilySearch; images — How to Use this Collection
 * 1824-1997 at FamilySearch; index and images — How to Use this Collection
 * 1833-1845 at FamilySearch Catalog* - includes Spanish land records; index and images
 * 1849-1895 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images
 * 1849-1895 at FamilySearch Catalog*
 * 1851-1936 at FamilySearch Catalog* - partial index and images; focus on rolls 1-3 that contain the district tract books, M1630
 * 1852-1858 California, U.S., Private Land Claim Dockets, 1852-1858 at Ancestry ($), index and images
 * 1852-1892 Finding Aid to the Documents Pertaining to the Adjudication of Private Land Claims in California, circa 1852-1892 at Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley; images
 * 1852-1910 at FamilySearch Catalog* - index and images; T1207;
 * 1853-1904 at FamilySearch Catalog* - index; NARA T1214
 * 1854-1878 at FamilySearch Catalog* - index; NARA T1215
 * 1855-1875 Spanish and Mexican Land Grants, 1855-1875 at California State Archives
 * 1891-1903 at FamilySearch Catalog* - index and images; Official name of court:  Court of Private Claims for the adjudication of Spanish and Mexican Land Titles in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming.
 * 1921-1952 California, Alien Land Ownership Records, 1921-1952 at Ancestry ($); index.
 * at FamilySearch Catalog* - index; NARA T-1216
 * Hornbeck Collection - Historical Land Use in California at the CSU Monterey Bay Digital Commons website of the Tanimura & Antle Family Memorial Library - documents and maps
 * 1840-1892 Maps of Private Land Grant Cases of California at Online Archive of California; 1397 items available
 * Diseños Collection
 * Hornbeck Collection of Historical Land Use in California
 * 940 County Atlases for California - David Rumsey Maps
 * California atlas search results on Worldcat

Timeline for Land Ownership

 * 1769-1821 Lands were granted by the Spanish
 * 1822-1846 Mexico administered land grants
 * 1850- California statehood, land distributed at federal level; then, at the County Recorder's office

Spanish and Mexican Records
Land was granted by the Spanish during the colonial period, 1769-1821. Beginning in 1822, Mexico granted land. This process ended after the conclusion of the Mexican-American War. In 1848, governance passed to the United States and a commission was established in 1852 to process the claims. The system of governance needed to include the adjudication of private land claims (PLCs) that originate when a foreign government grants land in areas that later comes under jurisdiction of the United States. Settlers desired to retain these lands and wanted their ownership recognized by the new government. The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war and guaranteed the land rights of existing settlers.

The fight over the rights given by occupancy was a constant battle between the occupiers, the land offices, the state government, the congress, and many others. Settlers held the view that their rights were reflected in the Preemption Act of 1841 (5 Stat. 453). This act was in effect in other public land states. Until private land claims were adjudicated, and the boundaries established by the Surveyor General, the land offices could not grant land effectively, though they did in many cases. Consequently, many of the private land claims litigated involved ejectment requests relating to settlers improperly on rancho land. Congress attempted to deal with this issue with the passage of an Act of 3 March, 1853 to provide for the Survey of the Public Lands in California, the granting of Preemption Rights therein, and other purposes (10 Stat. 244). This confusion and the resulting contests lasted many years.

Locating the Records
Land records from this period were widely dispersed and many were lost. In the book, Spanish and Mexican Records in the American Southwest, Henry Putney Beers provides a detailed description of the process of gathering the provincial records in California. The basic records relating to private land grants are the records held by the grantees or claimants and those held by the provincial government. Beers also describes the provincial records relating to Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

Most of the records of the provincial authorities were collected by U.S. military forces in 1846 and 1847. They were eventually deposited with the U.S. Surveyor General for California. Congress passed the Act of May 18, 1858 (11 Stat. 289) that required for the arranging and keeping of the Spanish and Mexican Archives in the office of the U.S. Surveyor General for California. These case files or “expedientes” are what constitute the Spanish Archives. Some were destroyed in the San Francisco fire of 1906. A list of the surviving case files held by the National Archives can be found in the Expedientes, California Board of Land Commissioners, Record Group 49: Records of the General Land Office. Because so many of these cases were litigated and information copied for the courts, there are alternative sources for the lost records.

Complicating land title adjudication was the Gold Rush that began in 1848. The influx of people overwhelmed the infrastructure of the area, making governance and settling land titles difficult. Squatters were a significant problem. Statehood came in 1850 and Congress passed the Land Act of 3 March 1851 (9 Stat. 631) creating a Board of Land Commissioners. The board operated for five years and accepted 813 claims and confirmed 514. Congress made the actions of the board appealable to federal courts. The courts adjudicated all but 3 of the 813 claims and approved 604 cases. Many of these claims were appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Of the 813 cases, 582 received patents.

The commission was just a screening process for claims. The process was not kind to many of the original grantees. It was complicated, time-consuming, and expensive, and each claim took 17 years on average to adjudicate. The commission and the courts created a body of records filled with genealogical information. As previously mentioned, one more record limitation exists—the earthquake and fire of 1906. Many land records held by the federal government were destroyed including private land claims, other records of grants, and “original” township plat maps. The GLO Washington copies of the township plat maps were copied and provided to the federal district land offices and are online at the General Land Office website. Also, the court case files for both federal districts in California can be found at the Bancroft Library.

Federal and State Records
Operating in parallel with the adjudication of private land claims, was the Public Land Survey System (PLSS). All unclaimed land in California, one of the 30 public land states, was surveyed under this system and title granted by federal land patents. This system was administered by the federal land district offices. Once the land was granted by the federal government the records of subsequent transfers will be found at the county level.
 * The General Land Office Records (GLO) at Bureau of Land Management - search for patents for California private land claims; search by name, or by "Grant-Spanish/Mexican" Authority; click on "Related Documents" to download and see the document.California Land and Property by Richard G. Sayre, CG, CGL, FUGA, 2022; used with permission

The first general land offices were established in Los Angeles and Benicia in 1853. The land entry files associated with these transactions are located in the National Archives at Washington, D.C. Additional federal land records relating to California are located in the National Archives at College Park, at San Francisco, and at Riverside. Use the National Archives catalog to identify these records. The Bureau of Land Management and General Land Office (BLM-GLO) has an on line Land Patent Search which is an index to millions of ancestors in federal land patents from 1788 to the 1960s at the National Archives. The National Archives has the original tract books, plat maps, and land-entry case files. These include cash entries and homestead entries.
 * California State Office 2800 Cottage Way, Suite W-1834 Sacramento, CA 95825-1886Telephone: (916) 978-4400 TDD (916) 978-4419 Contact us by Email

Records of state land grants are located at the:
 * State Lands Commission 100 Howe Ave. Suite E 100 S. Sacramento, California 95825 Telephone: 916-574-1900 Website

County Records
After land was transferred to private ownership, subsequent transactions have been filed with the county recorder. The Family History Library has microfilm copies of deeds and mortgages for some counties. Visit the Land and Property section of the individual California County Wiki pages for additional information.

Strategy for Locating the Private Land Claims

 * Search the General Land Office (GL0) Website: The General Land Office Records (GLO) at Bureau of Land Management - search for patents for California private land claims; search by name, or by "Grant-Spanish/Mexican" Authority; click on "Related Documents" to download and see the document.
 * Search the Bancroft Library: Finding Aid to the Documents Pertaining to the Adjudication of Private Land Claims in California, circa 1852-1892
 * Search FamilySearch:
 * Index to Private Land Claim Dockets: at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index & images; Also at: Ancestry ($)
 * Land Claim Dockets: at FamilySearch Catalog*
 * Land Records: at FamilySearch Catalog* - partial index and images; focus on rolls 1-3 that contain the district tract books, M1630
 * Index and Calendar to Private Land Grant Cases: at FamilySearch Catalog* - index; NARA T1214
 * Index to Private Land Grant Cases: at FamilySearch Catalog* - index; NARA T1215
 * Index to U.S. Northern and Southern District Courts: at FamilySearch Catalog* - index; NARA T-1216
 * Private Land Grant Cases Circuit Court: at FamilySearch Catalog* - index and images; T1207;


 * Search the California State Archives:
 * Spanish and Mexican Land Grants: Spanish and Mexican Land Grants, 1855-1875 at California State Archives; Also at: ; Ancestry ($)


 * Search original records at National Archives at College Park; Cartographic Division:
 * Complete Expedientes: California Land Claim Complete Files, ca. 1852–ca. 1856 NAID 596652; List D finding aid is held by the Cartographic division.
 * Incomplete Expedientes: California Land Claim Incomplete Files, ca. 1852–ca. 1856 NAID 596663; List E finding aid is held by the Cartographic division.
 * Case Expedientes: California Land Claim Case Files, ca. 1852–ca. 1856 NAID 596334; Finding aid is held by the Cartographic division.
 * 3 Volumes of Diseños: California Land Claim Sketch Maps, ca. 1852–ca. 1856 NAID 593217; Finding aid is held by the Cartographic division.


 * Search original records at the National Archives at Washington D.C.:
 * Private Land Claims: Records of the California Land Commission Relating to Private Land Claims, 1812–1886, NAID 575702
 * Records Concerning Land Private Claims: Records Concerning California Private Land Claims, 1857–1861, NAID 5752773

For Further Reading

 * Avina, Rose Hollenbaugh. Spanish and Mexican Land Grants in California. 1932. Reprint. New York, NY: Arno Press, 1976.
 * Beers, Henry Putney. Spanish and Mexican Records in the American Southwest. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1979.
 * Cowan, Robert G. Ranchos of California: a list of Spanish concessions, 1775-1822 and Mexican grants, 1822-1846. San Bernardino, Calif: Borgo Press, 1985.
 * Hoffman, Ogden and Numa Herbert. Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California June Term, 1853 to June Term, 1858. United States District Court (California: Northern District), 1862. Online at: Google Books; At various libraries (WorldCat)
 * Hone, E. Wade. Land & Property Research in the United States. Salt Lake City, Ut: Ancestry Publishing, 1997.
 * Kvasnicka, Robert M., compiler. The Trans-Mississippi West, 1804–1912, Part IV, A Guide to Records of the Department of the Interior for the Territorial Period, Section 3: Records of the General Land Office]. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 2007. Online at: Hathitrust;
 * Perez, Cris. Grants of land in California made by Spanish or Mexican authorities. [Sacramento, CA] (1807 13th St., Sacramento 95814): The Commission, 1986. (176 pages)
 * Robinson, W.W. Land in California : The Story of Mission Lands, Ranchos, Squatters, Mining Claims, Railroad Grants, Land Scrip, Homesteads. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1948.