The types and locations of your ancestors’ land records depend on whether he lived in a state-land state or a public-land state. Before state-land states became US territories, entities such as Colonial governments controlled, surveyed and distributed their land. Early property-transaction records are usually in those states’ archives. The US government owned the land in public-land states before they entered the Union; the National Archives and Records Administration has records of federal government land sales.
Public-Land States
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Florida
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Louisiana
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Mexico
North Dakota
Ohio (parts were surveyed under earlier systems)
Oklahoma
Oregon
South Dakota
Utah
Washington
Wisconsin
Wyoming
State-Land States
Connecticut
Delaware
Georgia
Hawaii
Kentucky
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Vermont
Virginia
West Virginia
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