BEV BUTULA: Site lands near top for conveyance records

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Looking for federal land conveyance records?

The Bureau of Land Management’s General Land Office maintains a website that “provide[s] live access to Federal land conveyance records for the Public Land States, including image access to more than five million Federal land title records issued between 1820 and the present.”

Images “relating to survey plats and field notes” can also be found.

The website’s interface allows the researcher to search by type of document, location or identifier. The search fields include state, county, patentee name, warrantee name, land description, and other miscellaneous items such as Indian allotment number, tribe and authority.

Researchers can also find the “resource center” beneficial. It provides additional insight into the types of documents found on the site.

Search tips to improve the users results and a nice glossary are also readily available. The highlight on the website, in my opinion, is the access to survey manuals dating back to the 1800s.