Porter County Land Patent IndexPorter County land patents, as reported by the General Land Office . . . .

The following index provides more than 2,600 land patent records for all land contained within the boundaries of Porter County, Indiana, as well as a link to a copy of each original land patent document. Land patents were issued by the General Land Office, conveying property held by the federal government to individuals; these individuals were referred to as patentees.

Several types of land patents exist. The most common type of land patents issued in Porter County included:

        Cash Entry Land Patent
        A cash entry land patent is one in which the individual
        (patentee) paid cash or its equivalent for the land. These
        patents often indicate the place of residence of the
        buyer of the land when the purchase was made.

        Homestead Land Patent
        A homestead land patent allowed settlers to apply for
        ownership of up to 160 acres of public land. To receive
        a homestead land patent, the applicant had to prove that
        they resided on the land for a minimum of five years
        and that they had cultivated and/or improved the land.
        The land conveyed through a homestead land patent
        was free, with the exception of the filing fee required
        to process and obtain the patent.

        Military Warrant Land Patents
        The government of the United States issued Military
        Bounty Land Warrants between 1788 and March 1855
        as a reward for military service to the country. These
        warrants were issued to veterans in various
        denominations based on rank and length of service
        and conveyed a right to land ownership. Bounty land
        warrants were not automatically issued to every veteran.
        The veteran was first required to apply for a warrant
        and then, if the warrant was granted, he could use the
        warrant to apply for a land patent. The land patent is
        the document that granted him ownership of the land.
        Bounty land warrants could also be transferred or sold
        to other individuals. Numerous individuals in Porter County
        obtained their land through the purchase of a military
        bounty warrant from a veteran. A military warrant
        land patent includes information concerning the veteran's
        rank and unit while serving his country.

The Porter County land patent index below provides the patentee's name, the issuance date of the patent by the United States to the patentee, and the legal description of the land that was conveyed by the United States to the patentee. The legal description includes township, range, section, and aliquot part. Note that the land patent index does not include later transfers of land, it only provides conveyances from the federal government to individuals. Later land conveyance information from individuals to other individuals and entities can be found in the Porter County Recorder's Office.

Clicking on the patentee's name in the index below will open a copy of the original land patent in Adobe Acrobat pdf file format.

If you have questions or comments regard the land patent data presented on this website, then please contact the Porter County GenWeb Coordinator.