Story County, Iowa
Federal Land Patents

Search Story Co. Federal Land Patents by Surname

The federal land patents contained herein were obtained from the Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) General Land Office Records web site (currently off line). (When you use the Story County site-wide surname search, land patent records will be included in the results. You can also use the link above to search only the land patent database.)

These land patents document the transfer of land ownership from the federal government to individuals. The earliest land patent for Story County was issued on November 11, 1852.

Most of the key information found at the BLM site is included here, but you may find some further detail at the BLM site. The link to the original land patent image takes you to the image on the BLM site. Note that the first time you access the BLM site you will probably be asked for your zip code.

I transcribed the county and state of residence of the patentee from the patent image. The location was not present in a few instances. In descending sequence, the highest number of patentees came from Iowa, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New York. Within Iowa, most came from Story County, then Polk County. There were also several from Lee and Jasper counties.

There is one patent that is not to an individual. It is to the State of Iowa and appears to be a grant for schools. To locate, search on surname "STATE OF IOWA."

For Story County, all land parcels reference the 5th PM meridian.

The following information is displayed:

• Patentee Surname (surname of the person to whom the patent was granted)
• Patentee Given Name
• Patentee Location (usually county and state of residence of the patentee)
• Warantee Surname (found only on a few patents, the surname of the person who earned the land warrant)
• Warentee Given Name
• Date of Issue
• Land Office (most were from the capital of Iowa, first Iowa City, then Des Moines, but later warrants and corrections to warrants were issued from Washington D.C.)
• Document Number
• Accession Number (or Serial Number; this number is unique to each patent)
• Acres (the total number of acres issued in the patent)
• Legal Description (contains one or more descriptions of a discrete area of land)
  • Part (also known as Aliquot Part, this defines the part of land included withint the section, township, and range)
  • Section
  • Township
  • Range
  • Township Name (the political township containing this parcel)

Please E-Mail Mark Christian with your questions, comments, or suggestions.
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