Explanation of Land Division
Overview
Reviewing the early history of the acquisition of land the United States, this class deals with those foreign nations who held property claims in America from various sources/, excluding Native American land claims.Some native american land was part of lands purchased by the US from and ceded from various and specfic Native Americans.
Basically, large holdings of land were with the countries of England, France, Mexico and Spain. There were some small holdings with other countries.
Great Britian
The british holdings in the US began about 1585 when Sir Walter Raleigh claimed land for the Crown. There are many land records of the colonies which became our earliest states. Britain granted very large tracts of land to companies of land speculators who lived in England. Most were wealthy speculators. The land companies acted as agents for the British Crown, and had the right to then issued land grants to those who were loyal to the Crown. At times, there were overlapping boundaries between these companies which created disputes between the companies and grantees.
Records [english] available for the genealogist are Crown Grants and Proprietorships. Proprieterships were responsible for the granting of lands for the Crown through the charter. The method of laying out the land was described, similar to later and current day land descriptions with identifying marks, and other data. Many of these records are available in various forms, possibly in patents, warants surveys, etc., on microfilm through some large libraries and the Family History Centers of the LDS Church.
Another possible source of information is in what is now known as loyalist claims. The United States took lands belonging to Loyalists to the Crown during the course of the Revolutionary War. Following the end of the Rev. War, the britsh governemnt attempted to assist those who had lost lands and established an "American Claims Commission" in 1783, to attempt to recover or get compensated for the confiscated holdings. the Public Land Office in Surrey, England has these claims, with several indexes of thes records being in the US, including the Library of Congress.
To enter into a search for very early land records, you must work from this current time period backwards, or much later than the original grants. [Example] If you have a land description from the middle 1800's, then use that as the starting point and work backwards from there. Each step back will be part of the over all picture. You will find as you progress backward, that land holdings tend to increase in size, and fewer owner until you get to the original patentee, land company, etc. Remember, the very eary English records deal only with the areas prior to the Revolutionary War.
SPAIN
Moving now to Spain, we know that it was the first foreign nation to claim land ownership in the North American continent. By the late 1600's, Spain laid claim to much of what would become the central and southwestern United States, as well as parts of Texas, New Mexico, California and the area of the Floridas.
Other types of grants, particularly in the southeast part of the country, the "Floridas"
The genealogist who is researching in the
Floridas should also be aware of the fact that headright
grants were given in that area. A headright grant was one
comprised of a certain amount of land(in this case 100 acres)
given for the head of the household and an additional amount (50
acres in the Floridas) for each additional family member. There
were five steps in the headright process: the application, the
warrant for survey, the plat record, the testimony of supporting
witnesses, and the patent. If you are not familiar with the term warrant,
it is simply a legal direction to a surveyor, granting him the
authority to proceed with the survey of the land in question.
These headright grants were kept in a ledger and the contents are
available on microfilm from the National Archives.
Early Spanish land grants, i.e., prior to the year 1763, exist in
small numbers, but are primarily connected with lands granted to
soldiers, and there is little of genealogical value in most of
these very early documents. However, beginning in 1763, Spain
began keeping careful records of its land transactions, with
several copies made of each document, one of which was sent to
the Spanish archives in Seville. The Spanish Land Grant Files, as
well as records of memorials (granted in the
Floridas) and other Spanish records can be found at the Florida
State Archives, as well as the Family History Center and the
National Archives. Spanish Land Grants often will show such items
as the acreage of the land, name of the original grantee and the
current claimant, surveyor's reports, and other data. Spanish
records for other states, such as Louisiana, are often contained
in ancillary collections, such as the Spanish Judicial Records(in
the case of Louisiana). In addition, the single most used
reference source for all Spanish land grants is the work
entitled, American State Papers: Public Lands, Volume I.
This work makes reference to most Spanish land claims prior to
1837. An excellent index of the claimants noted in this volume
has been compiled by Phillip McMullin in his work, Grassroots
of America.
The French held a large amount of territory in North America,
which underwent a series of transfers between foreign governments
over the years, but we are familiar with it from our reading of
history as "The Louisiana Purchase". For genealogists
purposes, you should be aware that there are some French land
records found scattered among the Spanish documents, since they
interacted over the years and overlapped each other in settling
some of the lands. The Superior Council Records are the primary
source of information on the French land granting practices. This
collection holds everything from mortgages to marriage contracts,
civil and land suits, and other valuable information. The
coverage of these records is restricted primarily to the areas
that we know today as Louisiana, inasmuch as this area was the
primary settlement ground for the French. The Superior Council
Records are available on microfilm at Tulane University and the
Family History Center.
Mexico, by 1821, claimed lands in the present states of Texas,
Louisiana, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, California and
Utah. The Mexicans, especially in Texas, were prolific in
granting lands, often in the form of a rancho,
which was a grant over 1000 acres. They also used the headright
system in Texas and in California. In Texas, references are made
to empressario grants, which were large
tracts given to land speculators to colonize entire towns.
Records which are available concerning Mexican grants include the
Spanish Archives, covering lands in California in the period
1833-1845. Spanish and English versions are available on
microfilm from the Family History Library and the California
State Archives. In Texas, the Spanish Archives is a collection of
nearly 70 volumes which contain records of empressario grants,
mission grants and individual grants. They have been indexed and
are available at the Texas General Land Office.
This brief history brings us to the point in time at which the
United States came into existence. Future lessons will deal with
the organization of state lands versus federal lands, how land
was granted in these two systems, bounty lands, and how the
"metes and bounds" system differs from the Township
& Range approach.
The terminology used in land claims, deeds, transfers, is important because of the usage of various phrases within a legal document. It is frustrating to not be able to follow the legal phrases. First, there is a deed book, which is nothing more than a listing of deeds for a specific place, at a certain given time period. ie: Book A, or Book 1, usally denotes the earliest recorded land transfers.
You will find "deed of sale" also known as an "indenture". This the legal document or instrument used to transfer property, real or personal. You will find indentures that contain both real and personal property listings. We tend to think of an indenture as something more than what it is: a contract between two or more parties for various reasons. In land, it is binding contract for the transfer of:
Other deeds found may be "deeds of gift" mostly within the family. Word usage might include "for love and affections", or have a very minor amount of money states, " One Dollar and other considerations". You may have to determine if the deeds you find, fall into this category.
Deed of mortgage or deed of trust is a sale of property with a debt attached in the form of a note against the property. There may be a number of deeds for this same piece of property, indicating that the property has been re-mortgaged on several occasions. Frequently with the original lender.
Quit Claim deeds are frequently found in attachment to other deeds. Quit claim deeds are frequently executed when there are multiple parties to a land transaction. An example being, when there children and parents, all holding title to land, the parents are the primary sellers, the children would then sign quit claim deeds to the parents, relinquishing all claims to the land.
There is another type of deed, frequently refered to a "strawman deed". It has very little to no importance in genealogical research. It only places a person/persons in a given place place on a given date. A "strawman deed' is one where there is a sale or purchase of property, followed by the sale or purchase of the same property within 24 to 48 hours. Smith sells to Jones, then Jones sells to Brown, Brown sells back to Smith,Jones is the strawman in the sale, and is usually a trusted friend who acted as an intermediary in the sale. The reason for these deeds is to circumvent some event concerning the property. There are times that a simple transfer of property from one joint owner to another is prohibited by the original agreement.
Estate sales and settlements of property are found in deed books. Sometimes, this is the only place you will find the disposition of the real property, other than the probate packet.
Other states where the federal government controlled the disposition of land, the township and range system was used. This system is far easier to use than the metes and bounds and the land descriptions used in deeds using this system. At least one state [Ky] that I know of used both systems.
The township and range system:
The basic unit of this system is the section, which contains 640 acres and contains one square mile. From the section, we go to the township, which contains 36 sections, in a 6 by 6 quadrant, measuring 6 miles by 6 miles
Metes and Bounds are a description of a distance measurement and specific boundary lines. When yu find that your ancestor was appointed as a "Processioneer", it simply meant that he, and others, would walk the boundaries together th make sure the markers were still intact. This prevented disagreements between neighbors, or the appointment was the result of a disagreement as to boundary lines. [Metes is a boundary line of specific distance; bounds reflect the total boundaries and markers]
The survey lines, described in the deed have distance and direction. direction is based on compass readings, and some type of a measuring units, such as poles, chains, etc. Distance is measured in poles, chains, rods links, etc. To use this type fr survey line, you must have a starting point. Frequently, the deed will also name the property owners on all sides of the property in question. It will usually describe some of the physical points of the land, particularly the boundary points and corners. Frequently, a land description will show one border as being acreek or river that meanders, and the description is "follow the creek, [river or watercourse] up or down stream to the two pines trees in the curve of the creek, so many poles from", thence southeast to the corner of six big rocks, corner of Smiths' property".
When a piece of property was plotted, using this method, it is much harder to actually find the property in question. Knowing the scale used, knowing compass points and the measurement used by the first person plotting the land. It is possible, to use a protractor and graph paper to come close, by using compass points, using the original description.
There are various terms used in the development of the description of the land in question. I will post these terms at the club lessons site.
Township Section and range mapping has made it relatively wasy to find a parcel of land, regardless of the size. A county map or atlas will give all of the information. Find the proper TSR and go from there. There are two types of townships and ranges: Congrssional and Civil or Political.
A Congressional Township: The basic unit of this system is the section, which contains 640 acres and contains one square mile. From the section, we go to the township, which contains 36 sections, in a 6 by 6 quadrant, measuring 6 miles by 6 miles.The range of a township is determined by east or west measurements from a principal meridan, and range lines are the boundary lines of a township which run north and south, while township lines mark the boundaries of a township running east to west.
A Civil or Political Township may be larger or smaller, but theoretically, a township is a square area of land, containing 36 sections of land, each with 640 acres.
Section numbers start in the northeast corner as number 1 and continue westward to section 6, then south to 7 and back east to 12, south to 13, etc.,, ending with Section 36, in the southeast corner og whatever Township, Section and range.
Land records are frequently very important in genealogical research. Not only do you know where they lived, but you also locate things like an old cemetery, another family member living down the road, sometimes, you can find out who basically traveled together by the area they settle, the day they filed for property [ US patented land or later, through the Homestead Act], or if they bought the property from a previous owner, not the goverment. The disposition of land is equally as important.
We couldn't cover all of the land information tonight, Bounty lands were not included,