UNDERUSED WEBSITES: BLM LAND RECORDS

 Underused Website Series: BLM Land Records

BLM (bureau of land management) website, also known as GLO (general land office) has all the original land records.  When we say original, what do we mean?  It means the very FIRST time land was ever bought or conveyed to an individual from the Federal government.

These are called Land Patents (not to be confused with patents people received for their inventions)

The Land patents are full of details about the property.  Here is a screen shot of the form, which you can start by selecting a state and adding a last name.  Make sure both boxes under the name are checked.

BLM records search window

 Here is a sample of the results (using Iowa and Culver) notice there are 6 pages of results. Gabriel has 5 different land patents, all in Cedar Iowa. 

Land Patent results

The Tract books have additional details and even the original with a signature! Most tract books can also be found on Family search.  BLM has a few states, Iowa being one. In order to get info on the tract books, you do need to get land description information from the land patent page.

Tract search screen

Inside the Surveys you can find the original plat of land with the names of other property owners and a pretty mapped image of the land.

Survey of Land Patent

The website is so packed with information, there is really no way to cover it in one blog post!  Even in an hour long webinar the details of the website, are jam packed into that hour.

My suggestion:

Go to the website and PLAY!!!  Pick an ancestor who could have owned land or if you know of one for sure,  use them, and go to the website, and see what you can find!!!

Happy Hunting!