Land Records Can Lead You Home

Posted on September 28, 2010 by bob in DiscoverYou

Can you imagine loading all your worldly possessions onto a wagon and leaving family and friends to travel to some distant location, all for the promise of fertile and inexpensive land?  Many of our ancestors did just that.

The idea of having a piece of land to call their own led many to take that incredible leap of faith. Would we be so brave? Land, an important commodity and the means to support one’s family with food and shelter, also provided a sense of security for the family’s future. Many thought it worth the risks.

In Alabama, even prior to statehood in 1819, all available land was sold by the federal government at land offices in the form of land patents. Some land patents were granted as a reward for military service as Military Bounty Warrants. Land sales not only provided revenue for the federal government but also encouraged settlement of the territory, and, later, the new state.

These records, which describe the location of the land purchased, are available from the National Archives – www.archives.gov – or at the Bureau of Land Management – www.glorecords.blm.gov – which has a searchable database of most of the original patents. The transactions were also recorded in county tract books, which are available on the Alabama Secretary of State’s web site – www.sos.alabama.gov.  After the initial purchase from the government, subsequent land transactions were conducted at the county courthouse.

When searching for land transactions at the local level, researchers need to look at several possible sources. Land transfers may be recorded in deed records, estate records, wills, or other probate records. The Alabama Department of Archives and History has deed records for most counties and probate records for all counties. A list of those records is found in the Local Government/County Records on Microfilm database – www.archives.alabama.gov. The county probate office is another source for the records, the addresses for which are found on the ADAH website.

Land patents, deeds, and other instruments of transfer provide the legal description of the land – township, range, and section. With that information, and using a county highway map, the location can be plotted. What a thrill to discover the exact spot on which your ancestors may have put plow to earth, raised a roof over the family’s head, and birthed another generation of family members to research!

Nancy Dupree is Senior Archivist
at the Alabama Department of
Archives and History.

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