Special Purpose Grants

The New England Colonies provided land grants for their military personnel who protected the settlements during the colonial period. Virginia did the same. The map below was taken from Ohio Land Grants, prepared for the Schools of Ohio by Joseph T. Gerguson, Auditor of the State. It is an excellent representation of how that state was divided up by special purpose grants, individual land grants, and land company grants.

To see if your ancestor had a special purpose grant, check a map of early land grants for the state where the ancestor lived. See if any special grants intersect with the same localities as the ancestor lived. Check the records for the bill of sale of the ancestor's land and see if it falls in place with the records of a special purpose grant as far as its survey description that is either described in a county history, or in a book of the special purpose grants. If it does or does not, see if there is an index to the special purpose grant and locate the ancestor or perhaps his parents or grandparents on that land record.