Land Entry Case Files

United States Land and Property  Case files

The National Archives preserves over ten million land entry case files which document each transfer of federally controlled public land parcel to private ownership.

These files indicate who applied for the land, if a patent (original title) was issued, and include a physical description of the property and where the land was located. The type of transaction is also shown such as cash entry, credit entry, homesteads, patents (deeds), timberland rights, or mineral rights, military bounty land, private land claims (from previous foreign governments), railroad grants, school grants, and swamp grants.

Case files cover the time of the American Revolution (1776) to the mid-1900s, but mostly apply from 1820 to 1908. The vast majority of case files pertain to land in 30 federal land states.

Two kinds of land records are closely associated with case files. If an application were successfully completed, a patent  was issued. However, if the application were never finished or rejected, there is still a case file, but no patent. Nevertheless, for EVERY case file there should be a corresponding tract book  entry showing the location of the property and its status.

Value of case files
Case files show details about when and where an ancestor applied for land from the federal government. Case files sometimes include information about family members, neighbors, military service, or citizenship naturalization records. Knowing the location of an ancestor's new property provides clues to help search for the records of the disposal of that property, or nearby properties. You can also search for a variety of non-land records of the ancestor in that area. Case files, and the associated tract books can be used to find information about neighbors—people who sometimes turn out to be relatives. When few other clues exist, a case file can lead to subsequent  land transfer records that state or infer a parent-child relationship between the people involved.

Jurisdictions
Land entry case files are from the 30 federal land states. These are states west of the Ohio-Mississippi River, and Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. Case files pertain to the transfer of federal public land to non-federal (private or state) ownership.

The subsequent disposal of that formerly-federal property should be recorded in local county deeds, mortgages, property tax records, and plat maps.

Related Wiki Articles

 * Tract books history, preparing and how to use them, content, access, and related case files.
 * United States, Bureau of Land Management Tract Books (FamilySearch Historical Records) describes the online federal tract book collection for 28 federal land states from 1820-1908.
 * Grants from the Federal Government (Public Domain) explains public lands, how individuals claimed some of it, and the paperwork created during the process.
 * BLM Land Patent Search discusses the index to eight million patented (finished) land applications, and military bounty land papers. Each entry in this index includes the land description useful for finding an ancestor in a tract book.
 * Rectangular surveys includes a section about tract books. This article shows how principal meridians, baselines, townships, ranges, sections, and aliquots are used for land descriptions found in tract books and other property records.
 * United States Land and Property page is a general discussion of land record research for genealogists. It serves as a table of contents to related Wiki pages about American land records including tract books, related land entry case files, and the BLM land patent search.

Related Websites

 * Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records includes the Land Patent Search, instructions, and search tips.
 * Form NATF-084 (pdf) used to order land entry case files from the National Archives.
 * Land Records: Introduction and Links to Resources on Land Entry Case Files and Related Records National Archives explain land record research.
 * Texas General Land Office Land Grant Search of over 665,000 land entries in Texas. Also includes grants from Spain, Mexico, and the Republic of Texas.

For Further Reading

 * Kenneth Hawkins, Research in the Land Entry Files of the General Land Office: Record Group 49, Reference Information Paper, 114 (Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 2007), 9. Internet version (pdf)
 * E. Wade Hone, Land and Property Research in the United States (Salt Lake City, Utah : Ancestry Pub., c1997), chapters 8 and 9. ;.