I’m always looking for new ways to research my family. Living in New England, I’m a long way away from sources of Pennsylvania information. So, I especially love to find FREE sources of information ONLINE. The Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission and State Archives usually have something good.
Jacob Hoover’s German Township property
In the past I’ve used the online Pennsylvania Warrant records and Patent indexes and the Copied Survey books to find surveys for land my ancestor settled. On my most recent visit to the site, I noticed that they’ve added PDF files of the Warrantee Township Maps.
These show the all the original land purchases within the context of the present-day townships. You can see your ancestor’s property in and amongst their neighbors. The map also provides the name of warrantee, name of patentee, number of acres, name of tract, and dates of warrant, survey and patent. It makes a nice summary and geographical index of the warrant/patent information of each township.
Please remember that the townships are shown by present-day boundaries. I spent some time looking in the townships referred to in the surveys I’ve obtained. Several townships later, I finally found what I was looking for. So, make sure you look in the current township.
While you can download these file to view, you can’t print them. However, if you’re interested in getting a paper copy, you can purchase one from the archives.
Drop me a reply and let me know what you find!
