United States General Land Office. Correspondence and other records, 1805-1871 | Illinois History and Lincoln Collections

This collection contains copies and transcripts of U.S. General Land Office Records concerning the settlement of the Midwest. Records include both correspondence and land grant office lists.

Administrative, legal, and political correspondence focuses on issues of land ownership, with correspondents including Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin, Michael Jones, and Elijah Backus. In addition, the collection includes copies of abstract records for Shawneetown, Illinois Territory in 1814; a typescript of a list of lands entered at the Vincennes Land Office prior to 1819; copy of a list of final certificates committed to the General Land Office from the Land Office at Kaskaskia, 1823; and a typed copy of a list of lands entered in Shelby County prior to 1832. The Vincennes Land Office list was compiled by Newton D. Mereness for use in preparing a map of "Illinois in 1818."