The Land Act of 1800 established federal land offices in Steubenville, Marietta, Chillicothe, and Cincinnati, with more to follow. Please see the map of Ohio's Land Offices below. This act created two positions in each land office, a Receiver of Public Monies, and a Registrar of Federal Land Offices. The Registrar was in charge of plats, and had to identify each tract after it was sold and mark it taken. The Receiver had charge of the funds received in payment for public lands.
For a more complete description of the operation of Ohio's Federal Land Offices see the Ohio Lands Book available through the Ohio Auditor of State's website, via the link. See page 42 for a chart of the "Terms of Sale" 1785-1862.
The Archives & Library holds receivers’ and registers’ records from the Canton, Chillicothe, Cincinnati, Marietta, Steubenville, and Zanesville Land offices. Records from land offices north and west of Columbus were kept at the Defiance Land Office and were destroyed by fire in 1855. To view a listing of all of the records that we hold for a particular land office you can search our Online Collections Catalog. For example, search Chillicothe Land Office. The Scope and Content section of the catalog record will tell you exactly what to expect from the records.
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