United States, Cancelled, Relinquished, or Rejected Land Entry Case Files, 1861-1932

What is in This Collection?

This collection consists of canceled and relinquished case files of land entries that progressed from an application to an allowed entry, but were later canceled by the General Land Office (GLO) in Washington D.C., or relinquished by the entryman from 1861-1932. Application files could be for homesteads, mining claims or land preemptions. A file may contain the original entry application, correspondence between the officials of the district (local) land offices, receipts for fees paid, public notices, affidavits and witness statements, proof of military service, the entryman’s (a settler or person making a land claim) naturalization records, and documents concerning the cancelation or relinquishment of the entry.

The initial point of contact between a settler and the government was a district land office. A District Land Office was staffed by a Register and a Receiver. The Register was responsible for land entry papers until they were sent to the GLO, and for maintaining the tract and register books and other records relating to claims. The Receiver handled the money involved in land claims.

A person wanting to make an entry of any type went to the Register of the local land office and filed his claim upon the public domain (available public lands). Some types of claims, such as cash entries, were settled quickly; other claims required several proofs over time. When all the legal requirements for title to the claimed land had been satisfied, a final certificate was issued by the Register to the entryman, and all papers regarding the claim were sent to the GLO. If all the was found to be in order a patent (title) was prepared and sent to the Register for delivery to the entryman. Case files where a final certificate or title was issued were removed by the land office and sent to the GLO. Additional records and/or images may be added to this collection in the future.

Local Land Offices included in this Collection are shown in the Coverage Table below.

Related Publications

• Kenneth Hawkins, comp. Research in Land Entry Files of the General Land Office. NARA Reference Information Paper 114
• Roberta King. Homestead records: Cancelled, contested, and relinquished entries. NGS Magazine 34 #1 (January-March, 2008): 46-49.

• Homestead National Historical Park
• Homesteading by the State
• Research
• Researcher Information
• Requesting Homestead Records

• Bureau of Land Management
• General Land Office Records

To Browse This Collection

What Can These Records Tell Me?

The following information may be found in these records:

• Name of applicant
• Date
• Description and location of land

Collection Contents

Sample Images

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  1908 Cancelled Claim

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  1908 Homestead Application page 1

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  1908 Homestead Application page 2

• 

  1908 Homestead Affidavit

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  1908 Non-Mineral Affidavit

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  1910 Land Office Register

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  1909 Power of Attorney

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  1909 Relinquisment

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  1909 Affidavit of Contest page 1

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  1909 Affidavit of Contest page 2

Coverage Table

This table lists the land offices included in this collection. The link in the NAID column will open a new window where you can see the National Archives Catalog record for that item.

See Also:

• United States, Bureau of Land Management, General Land Offices - Coverage Table