LESSON ELEVEN
LAND RECORDS OF THE ORIGINAL COLONIES

This Lesson will cover:

  • Land transfers from colonies to individuals
  • Land company grants
  • Special purpose grants
  • Individual land entry petitions or applications

Last week’s lesson focused on the transfer of land from a country to a specific upper-class of individuals. The purpose of this lesson is to provide brief summaries of records that transferred land from these special classes of proprietors, companies, or foreign rulers to individuals in the colonies.

Colonial CT

Land Transfers from the Colonies to Individuals

This week’s chapter focused on the transfer of land between 1607 and 1776 within the colonies. It can be summarized in the chart below:

1607-1776

Headrights Land Companies Special Grant Individual
1618 Virginia: to those who paid the passage for others to come to the colonies New England, Eastern States, Southern States & Midwest all had land companies 1715 New England states grant land to veterans of colonial conflicts 1618 New England courts make land grants to immigrants

Headright Grants

An example of the publications of the Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants by Nell Marion Nugent and be seen below and is a better rendition than would fit in the textbook. Look closely at what is being stated and compare the explanation and use the abbreviation guidelines found in Digging Deeper on pages 220 and 221.


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