Maine Land and Property

United States   Maine    Land and Property

Colonial Records
Land ownership in the colonial period can be traced to royal charters, proprietary grants, and Indian deeds. During this period, all of Maine was included in York County. You will find many of the early records for 1642 to 1737 in:

York Deeds. 18 Volumes. Portland, Maine: John T. Hull, 1887-1910. (Family History Library book 974.195 R2m; film 599904 item 3 through film 599914; on 186 fiche 6046839.) Each volume is well indexed. Volume 10 is on film and fiche only.

Post-Revolutionary War Records
In 1783 the Massachusetts Committee for the Sale of Eastern Lands was formed to sell unclaimed land and distribute grants to soldiers. In 1794 more than 2,000,000 acres were sold. The Family History Library has copies of these deed and grant documents for 1794 to 1860:

Massachusetts, Land Agent. Massachusetts Deeds, 1794-1860. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1954. (On five Family History Library films starting with 010248 item 3.) Each volume is indexed.

From 1820 to 1853, the state of Maine purchased the remaining land from Massachusetts and held auctions to distribute it. The Land Office of Maine was established in 1824 to distribute this land. The Family History Library has deed records from the land office for 1824 to 1861:

Maine. Land Office. Record of Deeds of the Land Office of Maine, 1824-1861. Ten Volumes. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1954. (Family History Library films 10238-41.) Indexes are in the volumes.

The library also has applications made to the Land Office by Revolutionary War veterans or their widows after 1835 see:

Maine. Land Office. Revolutionary War Veterans Land Records. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1954. (Family History Library films 010249-60.) Includes claims, applications, and declarations.

A partial index to these records is:

Charles J. House. Names of Soldiers of the American Revolution Who Applied for State Bounty, 1893. Reprint. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1967. (Family History Library book 974.1 M2n; film 1033754 item 16; film 010248.) Film 010248 contains handwritten numbers of certificates next to the names of the soldiers and another index of names of soldiers who applied to Massachusetts for State Bounty under services rendered in the Revolutionary War. The land office records are at the Maine State Archives.

County Records
After land was transferred to private ownership, subsequent transactions were recorded by the register of deeds in each county. The addresses and a description of each county's records are in:

Lindberg, Marcia Wiswall. Genealogist's Handbook for New England Research. 3rd ed. Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1993. (Family History Library book 974 D27g 1993.) This is an excellent guide to Maine towns and counties, location of public records, and genealogical societies.

The Family History Library has copies of most deed records to about 1860 or later for some counties. See the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under MAINE, [COUNTY] - LAND AND PROPERTY.

Web Sites

 * My Maine Genealogy gives good information about researching land records in Maine.