In brief, these records track the point of sale of federal land in Ohio.
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.
Bureau of Land Management (BLM), General Land Office (GLO) Records
Tax Records:
Even if your ancestor was not a first purchaser of land, you can use tax records to prove earliest date of residence in Ohio. The Archives & Library holds tax records for many Ohio counties during the early 19th century. The best way to find out which records are available in the Archives & Library is to search the Online Collections Catalog. For example, search: Belmont County Tax Duplicates. Please note that Ohio exempted land sold by the Federal Government from taxation for 5 years from the date of sale. An individual purchasing land in 1803 would not appear on the Tax Duplicate until 1808. Please see our list of indexes below.
Early Ohio Tax Records, by Esther Weygandt Powell [R 352.1771 P871e 1985]
Index to Ohio tax lists, 1800-1810, by Ronald Vern Jackson [R 352.1771 J137i]
Ohio 1810 Tax Duplicate, by Gerald M. Petty [R 352.1771 P456o]
Index of the Ohio 1825 tax duplicate, by Gerald M. Petty [R 352.1771 P456o 1825]
Index of the Ohio 1835 tax duplicate, by Gerald M. Petty [R 352.1771 P456o 1835]
