United States General Land Office records

Collection

Identifier: MSS-1481

Scope and Contents note

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.

Dates

1738-1903

Creator

United States. General Land Office (Organization)

Biographical / Historical

The General Land Office was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department of the Treasury. Placed into the Department of the Interior when that department was formed in 1849, it merged with the United States Grazing Service (established in 1934) to become the Bureau of Land Management on 16 July 1946.

Extent

5 Linear Feet (27 ledgers)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

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 names.