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Archiver > DESUSSEX > 2001-05 > 0990726911


From: "Sandra Dale" <>
Subject: [DESUSSEX] VA Land Office Patents and Grants Collection
Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 13:55:11 -0400


This is for all of you who also have VA roots.

Sandra

Forwarded from
From: "Elizabeth Roderick" <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2001 11:13 AM
Subject: Land Office Patents and Grants Collection


> The Library of Virginia's Digital Library Program has completed the
creation
> of a fully searchable database to the Virginia Land Office Patents and
> Grants Collection. The database consists of 161,467 records and links to
> the digital images of the original documents.
>
> The URL for the Digital Library Program is
> http://www.lva.lib.va.us/dlp/index.htm
>
> In 1606, King James I issued a charter that created the Virginia Company
of
> London, to colonize the land in Virginia between 30 degrees and 45 degrees
> north latitude, extending inland for 50 miles. Those going to the New
World
> to reside would receive acres of land to cultivate for private use or for
> profit. The next year, the first permanent English settlement in this
> hemisphere was made at Jamestown. In 1618, four boroughs were created,
and
> land was set aside in each borough for the support of the magistracy and
the
> church, and in Henricus, a proposed college.
>
> Two copies were made of a patent giving title to a piece of land. One
copy
> was given to the grantee, and the other copy was filed among the records
of
> the Company in the colony. In 1620, as a further safeguard, the Company
> decreed that second copies of grants should be sent to London to be sealed
> in open court. Despite such precautions, very few of the early patents
are
> extant. Those sent to London, like other of the Company's records,
> mysteriously disappeared from its offices in 1624. Those kept in the
colony
> were destroyed through such catastrophes as the 1622 massacre and
Nathaniel
> Bacon's burning of Jamestown.
>
> After 1624, patents of fifty (50) acres were granted to persons who paid
to
> transport emigrants to Virginia (this method, known as the headright
system,
> was employed as the major means of distributing virgin lands in the 17th
> century), and each patent was conditioned on the annual payment to the
crown
> of one shilling for each fifty acres owned, and the building of a house
and
> keeping of stock, or the cultivation of an acre of ground within three (3)
> years.
>
> A survey was completed for each tract, then the written patent was issued.
> The second copy of each patent was retained by the secretary for the
> records, where they were hung on strings in the office. From time to
time,
> the secretary would select a few patents and record them in bound volumes.
> The earliest patent in existence is dated 1619; many patents were never
> recorded, probably due to leaves torn from the strings on which they had
> been hung.
>
> By 1715, the headright system was abandoned, and persons could purchase
land
> outright. Limits were placed on the number of acres that could be
purchased
> by one individual; for example, a person was required to own at least five
> or more tithable servants or slaves to obtain a single patent for more
than
> 500 acres. After the Revolutionary War, Virginia's Revolutionary
> Convention resulted in the creation of the General Assembly, which
> established the Land Office in 1779. The Act establishing the office was
so
> thorough that no major change in Virginia's method of distribution of
virgin
> land was made until the mid-20th century. When Kentucky and West Virginia
> became states, Virginia lost most of her remaining vacant land.
>
> In 1948, the records of the Land Office, which were then in the custody of
> the Secretary of the Commonwealth, were transferred to the State Library
> and, by Act of Assembly, March 5, 1952, the duties of the Register of the
> Land Office were transferred from the Secretary of the Commonwealth to the
> State Librarian. Following the reorganization of the Land Office, the
> localities were charged with the issuing of titles to vacant lands, while
> the state only issued grants for escheated lands, primarily for
non-payment
> of taxes.
>
> Colonial Land Office patents were consistent in format. Each patent
> consisted of the name of the patentee, the size of the tract, the county
in
> which the land was located, the description of the land, any reservations
> for the crown, and the date on which the document was signed.
>
>
>
>
> --
> Elizabeth Roderick email ()
> Director, Digital Library Program voice (804) 692-3761
> The Library of Virginia fax (804) 692-3771
> 800 E. Broad Street
> Richmond, VA 23218
>
> **********************************************
> http://www.lva.lib.va.us
> The Digital Library Program
>
> **********************************************
>
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
>

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