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Here are the five steps for puchasing land from the Penn family in colonial Pennsylvania.
This material is copied from (1) which also gives links to online records.
As a general rule, the State land records are not going to provide
extensive genealogical information about the purchasers of land, for
example, personal data such as the person's nativity, age, marital
status, or occupation. They can be used, however, to document the
presence of a particular settler in a specific place at a given time,
a good starting point to begin or continue a family history. The five
basic documents created in the land process are [shown at the right].
For a thorough understanding of both the history of the Commonwealth
Land Office and the potential research use and contents of its
records, researchers should consult the Record Group 17 finding aids
and also Donna Bingham Munger's book Pennsylvania Land Records: A
History and Guide for Research (1991).
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Application - a request for a warrant to have a survey
made; usually a slip of paper that does NOT bear applicant's
signature.
Warrant - certificate authorizing a survey of a tract of
land; initiates title of a property and provides the basis for legal
settlement, but does not convey all rights to the property.
Survey - sketch of boundaries of tract of land with
exact determination of total acreage. Images of all surveys (recopied into books) are now
available online for research convenience.
Return - verbal description of property boundaries;
function is similar to that of a patent; internal document sent from
Surveyor General to Secretary of the Land Office
Patent - final, official deed from the Penns or the
Commonwealth, which conveys clear title and all rights to the private
owner.
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