Land: Pennsylvania Original Land Records Series for York County Copyright © 1997 by Neal Hively. This copy contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by the author. USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. _________________________________________________________________ For additional information visit Dr. Hively's web site at http://www.innernet.net/hively PENNSYLVANIA ORIGINAL LAND RECORDS SERIES FOR YORK COUNTY, PA ABOUT PENNSYLVANIA LAND RECORDS (excerpts from The Chancefords: Chanceford and Lower Chanceford Townships, 1997, Neal Otto Hively. Copyrighted material. All Rights Reserved.) Used with permission of the author.   PENNSYLVANIA COLONIAL LAND POLICY Land settlement West of the Susquehanna River was neither normative nor encouraged until after this territory was fully released by treaty with the Native American Indians in 1736. After that date, generous inducements and terms were used to promote settlement and expansion into this region of Pennsylvania. The Proprietors' objective in land settlement was to encourage actual settlement at extremely favorable terms, then subsequently bringing the settlers under regular colonial oversight and taxation. The purchase price for 100 acres of land was fifteen pounds ten shillings; the quit rent was one sterling halfpenny per acre, per year, until 1776. DISPUTE WITH THE COLONY OF MARYLAND From the time of their establishment, both the Maryland and Pennsylvania colonies were at odds as to where to place their common demarcation boundary. As a result officials from both colonies claimed title to what would later be determined as territory within the other's jurisdiction. Maryland assert claim to land as far north as the Fortieth Parallel (in York County, approximately where the Codorus Creek enters the Susquehanna River). Pennsylvania claimed land as far south as the Thirty-ninth Parallel (in Maryland, this would have included Baltimore City). Thus, a horizontal strip of virgin territory about fifty miles wide from Philadelphia in the East the Kittochtinny Mountains to the West was at stake. As early as 1722, Philip Syng and Thomas Brown secured a Maryland warrant on the west side of the Susquehanna River, called "The Partner's Adventure" (Springettsbury Manor Survey "S-391"). Soon after others from Maryland followed, along with hundreds of unauthorized settlers from either colony. An informal territorial dispute, known as "Cressap's War" was joined by settlers having allegiance on either side. Insult, abuse, abductions, arrests and occasional armed conflict ensued. The issue was appealed by both colonies to the Royal Court in England. As a result, on August 18, 1737 the royal order commanded that neither colony was to make grants within the other's confirmed territory. The next year, on May 25, 1738 an eight-part judgment was issued, establishing the conditions of authority and government over the disputed lands until the boundary issue could be settled by actual survey. A temporary line was laid out in May 1738 running along 39 Degrees 43 Minutes 18 Seconds Latitude. The survey commission reported back on May 28, 1739, effectively ending serious future boundary incursions. This colonial boundary was finalized in the Mason-Dixon Line in 1765. "PRESUMPTIVE SETTLEMENT: SQUATTERS"         Many early settlers settled on vacant tracts of newly opened land without recourse to official authorization from the Proprietors of the colony. This was accentuated by the accelerated rate of European immigration at about the time the lands West of the Susquehanna River were opened for general settlement, and the inability of the Pennsylvania land grant system to deal with the vast surge of settlers. Settlers of Irish and Germanic extraction, especially took it upon themselves to locate and "improve" a vacant tract of land without obtaining any warrant for the land.     A major Pennsylvania colonial policy shift in 1765 permitted settlers who had squatted on unwarranted land, and who were willing to accept the results of a land survey, to be granted an official warrant for their land, upon application. The "East Side" and "West Side" Applications (corresponding to land on the East and West sides of the Susquehanna Rive) were exceptional warrants issued to deal with settlers living on unwarranted land. The warrantee was granted an official Pennsylvania warrant, agreed to abide by the subsequent land survey, and pay the original purchase price of the property, with back interest. The large number of "Applications" listed in these volumes are an illustration of this phenomenon. "Interest dates" correspond to the date of actual settlement upon which the back rent was paid. Some 5600 West Side Applications were granted between 1765 and 1769. PENNSYLVANIA LAND WARRANTS, SURVEYS, AND PATENTS  There were five steps in the official land acquisition process from the Proprietors of Pennsylvania. Beginning in the late 1730's, the proprietors of the colony initiated the process based on an (1) Application to Warrant from interested prospective settlers. This resulted in the issuance of a warrant. Most warrants were issued from Lancaster city during this time of the colonial period. A (2) WARRANT was an official order for the county Deputy Surveyor to initiate a survey of the described tract of land. The warrant document designated the county, township, the person to whom the warrant was issued, the approximate acreage, and the date of issue. The earliest warrants give a general description of the land location. Later warrants give increasingly greater and more accurate detail of the property, including contiguous neighbors. Original warrant applications and warrant certificates are maintained at the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, PA. The Deputy Surveyors duplicate copies for York and much of Adams Counties are in the extensive collection at the Historical Society of York, PA. The third stage in securing land from the Proprietors of Pennsylvania was the official (3) SURVEY that was authorized by the warrant. Usually the survey followed the issuing of a warrant. Occasionally, a surveyor would lay off a property at the request of a prospective warrantee, at his own initiative, or at the request of a "squatter" who was already living on a tract and desired to officially acquire it. Surveys give graphic representation to the land within the designated boundaries. They note the compass "courses" in degrees, and the distances between corners (distances listed in "perches"; one perch = 16.5 feet). The narrative that accompanies the actual survey usually contains detail on the county, the township, the warrantee, the amount of acres contained in the survey with a 6% allowance for roads and error, natural features such streams, springs, etc., and the date of the original warrant and the subsequent survey. Early county roads are approximately located on some surveys. The (4) APPLICATION FOR A PATENT was the preliminary step that led to a review process leading to the issuance of a Patent. A (5) PATENT was the official granting of full, clear release and title to the land by the Proprietors of Pennsylvania. It was always issued at the owner's initiative. When, and under what circumstances a family applied for a Patent varied widely. Some Patents were granted at almost the same time as the warrant survey in the Eighteenth Century. Other families delayed applying for a Patent until the mid 1870's, more than one hundred years after the first warrant and survey had been conducted. In the Nineteenth Century, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania attempted to prod land owners to secure patents for their lands, by any number of various means. The large number of 1864 patents was one result of this focused initiative by the Legislature.     The records summarized in this research does not pretend to detail every owner or settler within the county, or be exhaustive in its scope. Deed transactions beyond the five-fold official Pennsylvania acquisition process are excluded from this research, with only a very few exceptions. This material is available in published form because I have limited the scope of the project; otherwise I'd still on Volume One. I'll leave the remaining deed research up to others with that as their project goal. SURVEY SUMMARY from Volume 8, with explanation below. 1. Each land tract graphed on the survey map is indexed sequentially, differentiated from other works by the prefix "C" (for Chanceford). The numbering begins at the top - right of the map, along the Susquehanna River, then proceeds back and forth, top to bottom. This book summarizes some 493 warranted properties that comprise the two townships.  2. Each tract summary will list the Township in which it is NOW located. Where the township demarcation changes, there may be two or more townships listed.  3. Each tract is officially listed in a county "Warrant Register." With this research summary listings for Philadelphia, Lancaster and York Counties are listed for various tracts. Lancaster County listings are for lands warranted, generally before 1749. Philadelphia County listings, in the Chancefords, are for properties taken up for successor rights to original Penn Grants. Most tracts will bear a York County Warrant index listing. Warrant Registers are housed and maintained at the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission, Bureau of Archives, Harrisburg. Copies of many warrant registers - both hard copy and microfilm may be located in some county historical societies. Five warrants under authority of the Maryland authorities are indexed in this volume, within the two township boundaries. 4. Warrant information is detailed from the official Warrant Registers of Philadelphia, Lancaster and York Counties.   5. The Warrant Date is listed, giving the month, day and year of the warrant. 6. The extant of acreage authorized by the warrant is listed. 7. The person for whom the warrant was issued is listed; variant name spellings are noted. 8. The Historical Society of York has custody of the Deputy Surveyor's duplicate copies of original land warrants for York and much of Adams Counties. Where these have been found to relate to individual tracts, they are listed. Occasionally they note when "Interest," or actual settlement and/or improvement of the tract commenced, if it differs from the actual date of the warrant's issuance. Warrant copy index numbers in the Historical Society of York's collection are usually lower than 5001. They are prefixed by the word "York," followed by the collection catalog number. 9. Survey information notes when the Deputy Surveyor of the county undertook to survey the property, as authorized by the warrant, along with the results of that survey.  10. The date of the warrant survey is listed.  11. The number of acres is listed. Partial acres are listed as "perches." Fractions of a full acre are listed as follows: 1/4 = .40; * = .80; 3/4 = .120. A full acre listed as a decimal is .160, or 160 "perches." Thus, some surveys will note a volume greater than 3/4 or another fraction, but less than a full acre: example - .140 (7/8 of an acre). Further, early surveys were conducted using a lineal measurement called a "perch." One perch is 16.5 lineal feet.  12. The person for whom the warrant survey was conducted is listed. Often a series of surveys were done as the land was conveyed to subsequent owners, or as parcels were added / taken from the original tract.  13. Frequently, tract names were given to each property. This practice was instituted after 1766 in Pennsylvania when tract names were required as properties were patented. Tract names were the norm for Maryland warrants. When this occurs, the tract name will be listed in quotation marks. A full Tract Name Index  for the two Chanceford townships appears in the General Index at the end of the book. 14. Patent information is detailed as it appears from the Warrant Register's listing. Data has been cross-checked with the Tract Name Index at the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission, Bureau of Archives, Harrisburg. Maryland records use a different filing system, and their codes and indexes are listed appropriately. 15. The date of the Patent is listed. 16. The number of acres encompassed in the Patent is listed. This may or may not differ from earlier surveys. Many patents show either substantial subdivision or significant consolidation of several warranted tracts. 17. The person to whom the Patent is conveyed is listed. 18. The Official Patent Designation is listed. Patent information is distinguished from other official Pennsylvania materials by its prefix letter. Patent data index volumes usually begin with the letters "A," "H," "P" or "AA." The prefix letter, followed by a number indicates the volume in which the Patent data is listed. Thus, "P-18-327" indexes patent book "P-18," page 327. 19. The original/official Survey of the tract is listed, indexed from the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission records. Copied surveys are distinguished from other records series by their prefix letter. Copied Survey Volumes begin with the letters "A," "B," "C," "D," or "BB." Surveys with a "B" or "BB" designation are either oversize pages or a rendering of several contiguous connected drafts. A "D" prefix usually connotes a tract under dispute between two parties, or land acquired under some irregularity. The number following the letter designates the separate volume number. Thus, "C-74-264" indexes the copied survey found in volume "C-74," page 264. Survey data is on microfilm in the Search Room at the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission, Bureau of Archives, Harrisburg, PA. 20. The County Deputy Surveyor's duplicate survey copies are indexed from the collection at the Historical Society of York, PA. They are indexed here to duplicate the official Pennsylvania records. They are always prefixed by the word "York," followed by the collection index number. Thus, "York - 615" indexes the Historical Society of York, PA's land record collection, survey 615. AUTHOR'S NOTE: just for the Chanceford book, there were nearly 10,000 supporting documents: warrants, surveys, patents, road records, early Susquehanna River Ferry reports, colonial church records, and much more.     For those researching ancestors by way of original land records, GOOD! The records are all there waiting to be accessed. They are an un-mined source of excellent genealogical and historical data.