Links

An overview of Land Records, what they are and how to use them.

As Missouri is a Public Land state, the Bureau of Land Management(BLM), General Land Office (GLO) Records Automation web site is a valuable resource providing 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 1788 and the present. They also have images of survey plats and field notes, land status records, and control document index records. Due to organization of documents in the GLO collection, this site does not currently contain every Federal title record issued for the Public Land States.

The Missouri State Archives holds over 65,000 reels of film (deeds, marriages, circuit court and probate court materials) as well as census film and some state agency publications on microfilm. A roll-by-roll listing of this film allows patrons to place orders for copies of the microfilm. County microfilm is constantly being added to the Archives' holdings.

The land records that are generally of most interest to genealogists are the land entry case files. These are records that document the transfer of public lands from the U.S. Government to private ownership. There are over ten million such individual land transactions in the custody of the National Archives. These case files cover land entries in all 30 public land states. The case files were filed as either military bounty land warrants, pre-1908 general land entry files, or as post-1908 land entry files. The information required to access and order copies of the records will differ depending on which of these 3 categories the transaction falls into. Once you have your land patent information you can order (for a fee) a copy of the land entry case file for that patent. Land entry case files can contain a wealth of information of interest to genealogists or nothing of much use at all. You never know unless you order the record.

Part of the Missouri State Archives Research Collection, the Land Records database contains over 280,000 entries from French and Spanish land concessions, federal land sales and state issued patents. The records may include names of purchasers, claimants and assignees, county, date of purchase, and legal land description (township, section, range and number of acres sold).

This site allows you to search for historic topographic maps across the U.S. These historic maps show roads, towns, and other features that may no longer be in existence. As such, they are a great tool for historians and genealogists alike.

Part of the Digital Collection of the Ellis Library at the University of Missouri, this collection contains 114 Missouri County plat books published by W.W. Hixson & Co. Although the exact year of publication is unclear, the volumes are estimated to be from the late 1920s to early 1930s. The plat books in this collection are held in the Special Collections Department at Ellis Library at the University of Missouri--Columbia and the St. Louis Public Library. These plat books are quite frequently consulted. In an effort to preserve and make them more accessible, they have been made available online for the public-at-large.