INTRODUCTION

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), established by Congress in 1946,  inherited the functions and  land records of the General Land Office.  Information presented here was derived from BLM land records. This site lists land patents (deeds) issued by the United States in the State of California between 1856 and 1995.

While BLM has been referred to as "the Nation's record keeper" it is the National Archives that actually keeps the files. The BLM, maintains diagrammatic plats known as Master Title Plats, which depict lands which are owned by the United States and lands which are patented. However, these plats do not contain information concerning the recipient of the land. That information as only been available after tedious research.

The information available here contains the following information for each land transaction: location (meridian, township, range, section), document identification number, case number, case type (authority),  date and name.  A few deeds contained as many as 25 individuals on the patent document.  However, a vast majority of the documents contained seven or fewer names.  Seven was arbitrarily chosen as the maximum number of persons listed.  The case types (or authority) are not listed by the number, rather they are listed by what authority the land was transferred.

HOW TO RESEARCH FOR PATENTS ON THIS SITE

I created a name index for all patentees in California, so if you are looking for a particular surname start your search here.  Find the county then go to the link to that county.  In order to keep file sizes manageable several counties have been split into pieces.  You will have to use your browser's search capability to look through each part of the county data.  In addition to the name and county, the case file number is listed.  Therefore if an individual has multiple patents in a county, each one is listed.

Data is organized within each file geographically, by meridian, township, range and section.  If a section is split by a county line, it will only be found in one county. Some parcels of land are mis-reported in the wrong county because of this. If you know the person you are looking for had a homestead in one county, and you do not find him there, check the adjacent county.

BLM DOCUMENTS ON THE WEB

The information available on this site was obtained under the Fredom of Information Act in 1997. Much has changed since then! Now you can search live, current records at: http://www.blm.gov/lr2000/ If you click on the REPORTS link you will find at the bottom of the page a link to PUBLIC STATUS REPORTS. That is the data reproduced here!

In addition the Bureau of Land Management has a nation-wide Land Records Website that you can search and obtain copies of the actual patent documents. Recently BLM California created a website where you can search, view, and download the Master Plats and Historic Indexes. Some day actual survey records will also be on line.

Most of the data available on my site was replicated as text files at this Rootsweb website. However that site lacks the name index.

Should you have any questions, I would advise you to contact the Bureau of Land Management through the above sites or through the main site (see the Directory of Offices).

More Resources

Order copies of the actual Patent documents from the National Archives and Records Adminstration.

Using township, range and section results to generate a geographic coordinate (latitude, longitude). Go to the BLM website: http://www.geocommunicator.gov . Click on Township GeoCoder in the left margin. Then on Geocoder.  Fill in the blanks