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Virginia Land Patents and Grants

Virginia land patents (1623–1774) and land grants (1779–2000), including land grants and survey plats for the Northern Neck proprietary (1690–1874)

Related Resources

Archives

The records of the Executive Branch, Land Office (Record Group 4), includes many related land records that are not part of the online collection. Information on various land office records can be found in the online catalog and in the Land Office record guides. For a description of the records see Daphne S. Gentry, and John S. Salmon, Virginia Land Office Inventory. 3rd ed., Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1981.

Additional related archival collections include:

  • Fairfax Proprietary Papers, 1688–1810 (bulk 1688–1770) (Accession 24062). Northern Neck Proprietary documents including rent rolls, grants, bonds, deeds, wills, surveys, and letters (see guide).
  • Fairfax Family Proprietary Papers, 1720–1793 (Accession 27213), has surveys and deeds.
  • George William Fairfax, Ledger, 1786–1792 (Accession 22242) contains rent collections for Northern Neck proprietary land.
  • Estrayed Virginia Land Office Records, 1773–1887. Correspondence, warrants, and military bounty records. Part of the Robert Alonzo Brock collection, Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. Available on microfilm, miscellaneous reel 570.
  • Northern Neck Proprietary papers, 1675–1843 (bulk 1675–1812). Correspondence, survey warrants, and rent records. Part of the Robert Alonzo Brock collection, Huntington Library, San Marino, CA. Available on microfilm, miscellaneous reels 4617–4624. 

Microfilm

The record volumes comprising the online collection are also available on microfilm. The Land Patent and Grant Volumes, 1623–1948, are on Land Office Reels 1–190. The Grant Volumes, 1948–February 2000, are on Land Office Reels, 369–378. The Northern Neck Land Grant Volumes, 1690–1874 are on Land Office Reels 288–311. The Northern Neck Surveys, 1786–1874, are on Land Office Reels 312–320. 

Additional Land Office records, not part of the online collection, are available on microfilm. These include:

  • Surveys, 1779–1963, Land Office Reels 191–287. Index, 1779–1924, Land Office Reels 366–367. Survey Registers, 1779–1799, 1812–1888, Land Office Reels 352–353.
  • Northern Neck Surveys from the Virginia Land Office, 1697–1781 (bulk 1722–1781), Land Office Northern Neck Survey Reels 1–37.
  • Treasury Warrant Registers: Old Series, 1779–1783, 1793–1794, Land Office Reels 333–336; New Series, 1787–1952, Land Office Reels 337–342; Supplemental Register, 1781–1840, Land Office Reel 343; Exchange Registers, 1782–1878, Land Office Reel 344.
  • Preemption Certificates, 1779–1785, Land Office Preemption Certificates Reels 1–6.
  • Preemption Certificate Registers, 1779–1783, Land Office Reel 358.
  • Preemption Warrant Register, 1779–1788, Land Office Reel 359.
  • Caveat Record Books, 1779–1923, Land Office Reels 354–357.
  • County Abstract Volumes, Land Office Reels 321–332.
  • Land Grants to the United States Government, 1874–1908, Land Office Reel 361.
  • Colonial Wars Land Bounty Books, including Warrant Registers, Certificates, and Index, Land Office Reel 360.
  • Revolutionary War Book Land Registers, Land Office Reel 351.
  • Northern Neck Land Warrant Register, 1786–1798, Land Office Reel 343.

All Land Office microfilm may be borrowed from the Library of Virginia through interlibrary loan. 

Books

  • Brookes-Smith, Joan. Master Index, Virginia Surveys and Grants, 1774–1791. 1st ed. Frankfort, KY: Kentucky Historical Society, 1976.
  • Gentry, Daphne S., comp. Virginia Land Office Inventory. 3rd ed., revised and enlarged by John S. Salmon. Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1981. First edition (1973) available online (Hathitrust).
  • Gray, Gertrude E., comp. Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants. 4 vols. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Pub. Co., Inc., 1987–1993.
  • Hammon, Neal O. Early Kentucky Land Records, 1773–1780. Louisville, KY: Filson Club, 1992. Available online (Genealogy Trails).
  • Joyner, Peggy S. Abstracts of Virginia’s Northern Neck Warrants & Surveys. 5 vols. Portsmouth, VA: P. Joyner, 1985–1995.
  • Nugent, Nell Marion. Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants. Vols. 1–3, Richmond: Virginia State Library and Archives, 1977–1992. Vols. 4–8, edited by Dennis Ray Hudgins. Richmond: Virginia Genealogical Society, 1994–2005. Volume 1 (1934 ed.) available online (Internet Archive).
  • Nugent, Nell Marion., and Susan Bracey Sheppard. Cavaliers and Pioneers: Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants: Supplement, Northern Neck Grants No. 1, 1690–1692. Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1980.
  • Sims, Edgar B. Sims Index to Land Grants in West Virginia. [Springfield, VA]: Genealogical Books in Print, 1993.
  • Richard Slatten, “Interpreting Headrights in Colonial Virginia Patents: Uses and Abuses,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly, vol. 75 (September 1987): 169–179.