Certificates of purchase of land, St. Stephens, Alabama (certificates 9155, 9495-9837), 1847 - 1851

This collection consists of ledgers containing Land Commission correspondence; applications for land in Mississippi and Alabama territories; copies of land grants from England, France and Spain to residents in Mobile; marriage contracts; wills; and plats of grants, 1783-1813. Ledger 17 contains diary entries by James E. Henderson of Co. C, 12th Iowa Infantry, who was assistant provost marshall in Alabama in 1865. Several ledgers have been indexed by name.

The collection also contains patents for land in the area of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. One is from 1824 and is signed by President James Monroe. The rest are from 1937 and 1939 and are signed by President Martin Van Buren's secretary. The president signed all land grants until the early 1830s when there were more than 10,000 land patents waiting to be signed by the president. Congress passed a law in 1833 authorizing the President to appoint a special secretary to sign land patents.