SACKETT-L Archives

From: (Carroll Lawson)
Subject: [SACKETT-L] Land Office Patents and Grants Collection
Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 21:02:55 -0500

Received on Lawson-L and thought I would pass it on.

C.M. " Butch" Lawson

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.

This thread:

• [SACKETT-L] Land Office Patents and Grants Collection by (Carroll Lawson)