Federal Land Records

Lands in Indiana’s Gore

Lands between the Greenville Treaty line, Indiana-Ohio border and Ohio river were the first Indiana lands available through the United States land patents. These lands were sold at Cincinnati.

Land Patents

Article – Federal Land Patents in Indiana’s Gore

The BLM site has images of the original land patents from the government. The images are also available to Ancestry.com subscribers. The patents for Indiana’s Gore were indexed under both Ohio and Indiana, so you need to search both states to find all patents.

Bureau of Land Management – General Land Office (free)
U.S. General Land Office Records, 1796 – 1907 – Ancestry ($)

Tract Books

Once you locate your ancestor’s land patent and know where their land was located, you can find more information about the land transaction in the BLM Tract Books.

BLM tract books for Indiana’s Gore are available as free images on FamilySearch. The records are available under Ohio and are available in Cincinnati volumes 11-16.The records are organized by range, then township, then section. Consult the BLM Tract Book Guide for Indiana’s Gore to find the image numbers for each section.

United States, Bureau of Land Management Tract Books, 1820 – 1908 – FamilySearch (free)

Indexes to Tract Books:

  • Mikesell, Shirley Keller. Early Settlers of Indiana’s “Gore,” 1803-1820. Bowie, Maryland : Heritage Books, 1995.
  • Waters, Margaret R. Indiana Land Entries. 2 volumes. Indianapolis : No publisher, 1948. Online at HathiTrust

County Land Records

All land transactions after the initial purchase with a land patent are found in the county deed books.