![]() It covered roughly the northern half of the state. One proprietor refused to sell, and his domain was later known as the Granville District after one of his heirs. Most of the land belonging to the Crown was located in the southern half of the state. By 1729 seven of the eight proprietors sold their shares to King George II for political and economic reasons, making North Carolina a royal colony. During the time when they controlled the land, North Carolina was a proprietary colony.Ĭolonial, British Crown, or Royal Era (1729–1775). The boundaries of their grant extended from the present-day North Carolina-Virginia border on the north to a line drawn across present-day Florida on the south. These men were called the Lords Proprietors of Carolina, and they had the right to grant land to others. In 1663 King Charles II of England granted land in the Carolinas to eight men who had helped him regain the throne. Provincial or Proprietary Era (1663–1729). After officials received the necessary papers and fees, the new land owner was given the grant document that was his patent to the land.Ī more detailed description of the land grant process and the records associated with it is found in United States Land and Property. The surveyor sent copies of the plat to the land office. This map may vary from the land description given in the entry or warrant. After receiving the warrant, the surveyor would survey the land and draw a plat map. Sometimes as many as 10 years could pass between entry and warrant. This warrant was the authorization for the surveyor to complete a plat. If, after three months, the person seeking the land received no opposition to his entry by way of legal caveat, the entry taker would convey a warrant to the assigned surveyor. These descriptions show the name of the person seeking the land, a description of the land, the number of acres, the name of adjacent land owners, and the date the entry was made. The entry-taker would record the description on loose sheets or into bound volumes, depending on the time period. After a person selected a piece of vacant land, he would enter a claim or apply for it by describing its features to a government official or entry-taker. For information about records created during these subsequent land transactions, see "Subsequent Exchanges of Land" near the end of this section.Įntries or applications. They are described in greater detail below.Īfter being granted a patent, the new owner could sell or transfer his property to others. Obtaining a grant of land from the government was the final step in a process that often resulted in the creation of several documents:Įach of these documents may contain the names of family members, neighbors who were sometimes relatives, or clues about the owner's previous residence. The person who obtained title to the land from government agents received a land grant, also known as a land patent. These governments later gave or sold much of this land to individuals. Various royal, colonial, state, and federal governments established the first claims to land in what is now North Carolina. None of the Virginians held land by grant from an English authority, but some had made formal or informal agreements with the American Indians who already occupied the area. You may learn a person’s previous residences, his occupation, if he had served in the military, if he was a naturalized citizen, and other clues for further research.īefore 1663 a few settlers from Virginia had filtered down to the Albemarle Sound of present-day North Carolina. They often reveal other family information as well, such as the name of a spouse, an heir, other relatives, or neighbors. Land records are primarily used to learn where a person lived and when he or she lived there. The availability of land attracted many immigrants to America and encouraged westward expansion. For Caswell, Mecklenburg, Orange, Person, Wake, and Wilkes County, grants are linked to over 100,000 high quality images of original warrants, surveys and other related documents. Issued grants are linked directly to an image of the page in the corresponding Land Patent Book where the land description was recorded. Searchable data for over 216,000 land grants issued by the state of North Carolina from 1663 to 1960, including around 12,000 grants issued for what is now Tennessee. NC Land Grant Images and Data at State Archives of North Carolina. ![]() This Land is Our Land! Tennessee's Disputes with North Carolina, by Gale Williams Bamman, at TNGenWeb.Early North Carolina/Tennessee Land Grants at the Tennessee State Library and Archives.2.2 Land Grant History in North Carolina. ![]()
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