Land Patents

1. Check the Federal Land Grants to determine if the land has a Federal Patent, if so direct the patron to the Bureau of Land Management.
Bureau of Land Management Dept. of Interior
7450 Boston Blvd.
Springfield, Virginia 22 153
(703) 440-1600
2.  Get the name of the Patent Holder if possible.
3.  Get Legal Coordinates of the land including quarter [...]

Michigan is Uninhabitable!

This is a link to the Benj. Hough to Edward Tiffin letter that talks about how terrible Michigan’s landscape is to survey.   Didn’t help that they were in a swamp during a rainy May and October.
For more information on this and other Territorial Papers, consult the Michigan Territory Papers 12 volume set in the [...]

GLO Survey and Field Notes

If you ever have trouble finding a line in the survey notes, be sure to check out RG 64-52, boxes 10-18.  The are duplicates of the notes in 87-155 and are a good backup.
-Mark

Edward Tiffin

EDWARD TIFFIN 
Commissioner of General Land Office, 1812-1814; Surveyor-General for the Northwest, 1814-1829. 
Tiffin papers in Ohio Historical Society, 1813 North High Street, Columbus, OH 43210 include:

Microfilm of copies of correspondence of the Surveyor General, 1796-1824, from originals in National Archives (2 reels, 36 feet). 

U.S. [...]

Sagana Lands

Detroit Gazette                                                                                   SAGANA LANDS.
September 8, 1820.
            In answer to a letter of Messrs. A. Edwards and Ch. Larned, dated the 19th July last, to Josiah Meigs, Esquire stating that surveys in the vicinity of Sagana bay are desirable, they are informed by a letter from that gentleman, dated on the 16th [...]

REMOUNUMENTATION – Land Corner Recordation Certificate System

REMOUNUMENTATION – Land Corner Recordation Certificate System
Department of Consumer and Industry Services
 
Item 21025A (Record Center for given years, 1997)
 
 

Ora Labora

Ora Labora:
RG 60-8 box 50, folder 7
Petition to Board of control for state swamp lands for drainage ditch.
December 21, 1865

Niles Reserve

NILES RESERVE
G VII
B1
F34
In Legislative Matters.

LANSING (Biddle City:  Town of Michigan)
Source:
1.    Biddle City:  Ingham County Plat Book, Vol. 106, P. 7060.  Recorded Register of Deeds, County of Jackson.  April 19, 1836.
2.    Town of Michigan:  Ingham County Plat Book, Vol. 106, P. 7099.  Three sheets of information – 1 map; 2 descriptions.  Recorded June 23, 1847.
See map.  MHC map collection.
LANSING
G VII
B1
F34
Old
Re:  [...]

Land (general)

Source:
1.    Public Land Ownership – in the lake states North Central Regional Publ. 12 by Raleigh Barlowe, Michigan State C. Agr. Exp. Sta. Epec/Bul. 351.  August 1948, 28p.
2.    Williams, W. B. Legal description from a surveyor’s viewpoint.  Surveying and mapping, 11:245-9, July-September, 1951.  Ambiguities in early designations…since 1785.
3.    Primary records of the Marquette Land Office [...]