In previous columns, we discussed aspects of research with colonial land patents. In Colonial Maryland land patents and headrights, the patent process and the headright system prior to 1680 were explained. Researching colonial Maryland patent records highlighted the two sets of patent record books that still survive from the earliest days of colonial Maryland, as currently held at the Maryland State Archives.
The Maryland State Archives holds two series of original certificates of survey: ‘patented’ and ‘unpatented.’ The patented series of certificates consists of surveys that were taken for land that was eventually patented. The unpatented certificates, as the name suggests, were lands surveyed that were not patented at that time. This would generally happen when the person holding the warrant for the land surveyed died prior to patenting the land, though there may also have been other reasons that a patent would not be issued. Resurveys of land tracts are considered separate surveys and were issued separate certificates.
These two series of patents are organized under separate series---patented and unpatented---for each county. The Maryland State Archives’ identification numbers for these series run from MSA S1188 (Allegany County) through MSA S1210 (Worcester County) for the patented certificates, and from MSA S1211 (Allegany County) through MSA S1233 (Worcester County) for the unpatented certificates. Neither patented nor unpatented certificates are organized in Baltimore city.
These original certificates are loose papers, unbound and held in separate folders for each land tract. Only the certificates for Harford County are available on microfilm. Digital images of all of the certificates for every county, however, are available online, at the Plats website. This site is a stand-alone, external site created by the Maryland State Archives, ostensibly as Volume 79 of the Archives of Maryland Online, and is titled the Digital Image Reference System for Land Survey, Subdivision, and Condominium Plats. The site currently requires a user name and password to enter. The universal user name is plato and the password is plato#.
The site is organized by county. To access the records for each county, just click on its name. The certificates of survey generally appear in the county where the land currently lies, not the county where the land was patented. For example, from the time of its founding in 1696 until 1748, Prince George’s County contained all of the land of western Maryland, including the current counties of Frederick (1748), Montgomery (1776), Washington (1776), Allegany (1789), and Garrett (1872). Lands patented in any of these counties prior to their individual establishment, though, will usually appear in the county where the land currently lies, though I have encountered a few exceptions to this general rule.
The most rewarding use for this site, at this point, is the “Advanced Search” function. This allows you to search by keyword, which would include the tract’s name or the owner’s name/surname. You can access this feature by first entering the site for county in which you would like to search, then clicking on the link labeled “[County Name] Land Survey, Subdivision, and Condominium Plats.” This is the first link in the list shown above.
The “Advanced Search” link appears on this page. I would also encourage visitors to take the time to thoroughly explore the pages available for their county. There are many plats and surveys on this site that have been scanned but not indexed.
On the “Advanced Search” page, you should enter the name you are researching in the search box. Wildcards are not valid on this site, but you can search for partial words. Partial word searches will show results for the word segment anywhere in the word. For example, “bad” will bring results for “Baden” as well as “Barbadoes.”
The following screenshot shows the results of a search for “Baden.” Several different record groups are represented in this index, including Patented Certificates of survey as well as entries in the more recent Plat Books.
As you can see in this list of search results, there are two columns corresponding to digital images: “Direct Scans” and “Microfilm Scans.” The number in the “Direct Scans” column reports the number of images scanned from original records; the number in the “Microfilm Scans” column reports the number of images scanned from microfilmed records. For many records, both of these numbers will be “0.” This includes the two series of patent record books discussed previously in this column. However, all of the Patented and Unpatented Certificates of Survey have been scanned.
When you click on an item that has been scanned, you will see a list of links to the images. These are in either .JPG or .TIF formats. Depending on your web browser, you should be able to download these images directly by right-clicking on the links. You can see a sample of a patented certificate of survey in the slideshow below.
When working with patent records---most of which contain land descriptions---a good skill to have is the ability to plat land tracts using the metes and bounds. This process will be detailed in a future column.
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