Fellow THers here is a real nugget to find old homesteads using the original surveys from the 1800s and its free!!!
The Bureau of Land Management has many original PLAT survey maps (mostly for states E of the Miss river except Ark/Tx are on also) on-line w/ very detailed hi res maps from 1800s you can search by county and date. They list homes/roads etc, used in conj w/ a reconstructed plat book form your local GenWEB site/ or names from Census you should be able to get a good idea of who was living where/when. I've already found 2 sites using this method in 2 days from vague references in the ORs. See below links then select the search tab at top enter your state and county - then view plat images for the twnship you wish to view- you can also search for the land patents by name. The second link describes the public land survey system- have fun
if you have trouble w/ the BLM link- go to to Bureau of Land Managment (BLM.gov) then on the left side you will see 3 drop downs (Programs, Info, Resources- click on: Resources, then select: Public Room On-line resources, then in the center of the page select General Land Office, it will get you to the same site
BD
[http://www.glorecords.blm.gov]
http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/b ... _plss.html
The Bureau of Land Management has many original PLAT survey maps (mostly for states E of the Miss river except Ark/Tx are on also) on-line w/ very detailed hi res maps from 1800s you can search by county and date. They list homes/roads etc, used in conj w/ a reconstructed plat book form your local GenWEB site/ or names from Census you should be able to get a good idea of who was living where/when. I've already found 2 sites using this method in 2 days from vague references in the ORs. See below links then select the search tab at top enter your state and county - then view plat images for the twnship you wish to view- you can also search for the land patents by name. The second link describes the public land survey system- have fun
if you have trouble w/ the BLM link- go to to Bureau of Land Managment (BLM.gov) then on the left side you will see 3 drop downs (Programs, Info, Resources- click on: Resources, then select: Public Room On-line resources, then in the center of the page select General Land Office, it will get you to the same site
BD
[http://www.glorecords.blm.gov]
http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/b ... _plss.html