Collections : [Library of Virginia]

These records include accounts and receipts for the maintenance of the Land Office, including such items as coal, parchment, printing, salaries, ink, and blank books, covering the period 1792-1795 and 1810-1812. Charles Lewis and Charles Blagrove served as registers of the Land Office during these periods and were involved in the accounts for the office maintenance.

Includes reports documenting the condition, records, and efficiency of the Land Office at various dates between 1747 and 1917. The reports were compiled by different sources, including the deputy auditor, registers, and various committees of the General Assembly.

These records contain copies of court records, separated from the files with which they belong, sent in to support claims; copies of documents from the Land Office prepared either for internal use or on request and not retrieved; and copies of documents predating the establishment of the Land Office in 1779. Included in the last category are General Court records, 1747-1772; Council records, 1743-1774; and county court orders certiying importation claims, 1750-1779. Total years covered are 1743; 1745; 1747-1748; 1750; 1753-1756; 1758; 1760; 1763-1765; 1770; 1772-1775; 1779; 1783-1787; 1790; 1793; 1795-1796; 1805-1806; 1810; 1817-1818; 1821; 1823-1825; 1827; 1829-1830; 1840; 1847; 1849; 1853-1854; 1860; 1864-1865; 1870-1871; 1875; 1879-1883; 1887; 1913

These records contain correspondence on lands which reverted or escheated to the commonwealth upon the death of an owner without an heir. These lands could be sold in the locality after proper notice had been given. The series of correspondence consists of information sent to the register that such notice had been given, either in the form of copies of the newspaper advertisements or affidavits to the effect that advertisements had been placed. The notices would run once a week for six weeks in newspapers such as the National Intelligencer, the Richmond Enquirer, or the Richmond Whig. There are also some notices of impending inquests to determine if a tract had been escheated as well as some certificates of sales on escheated lands.

These records contain military warrant 3753 for 3,000 acres, issued to George Washington on February 14, 1785. The warrant was originally issued by royal governor Lord Dunmore to John Roots for his French and Indian War military service. Roots assigned it to Washington on February 14, 1774, and it was then reissued in Washington's name by a resolution of the General Assembly passed December 30, 1784. The warrant was not endorsed by Washington.

These records contain incoming correspondence to the register of the Land Office, including the period the secretary of the commonwealth held the office, dealing primarily with business affairs. Included are requests for warrants and copies of grants and surveys, letters which accompanied incoming surveys, letters seeking information about military bounty lands, and inquiries regarding the manner of resolving conflicts pertaining to land possession. Many entries from the 20th century involve requests for information for genealogical or historical research, frequently to establish eligibility for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution.

These records include drafts and copies of letters, most of which concern routine business affairs for which there is no incoming correspondence on file.

These records contain an undated list containing three categories. In one is given those grants which were not signed or recorded; in another, those surveys for military officers which the governor refused to sign; and in the third, those surveys stayed by caveats and not patented. The first and third are divided into columns listing the name of the party concerned, the number of acres involved, the county in which the land was located, and the reason the document was not signed. The second section does not contain the column for county location. The majority of the entries are undated. The list is not signed.