Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Conditions Governing Access

No special access restriction applies.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Courtney-Lazell Family Papers, A&M 1875, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Biographical / Historical

In 1779 the Virginia Land Office was established by the General Assembly. The Office was headed by a Register who was responsible for the procedure for obtaining waste and unappropriated lands. Under this legislation any person could buy as much land as desired, priced at forty pounds per 100 acres. A warrant was issued by the Register, authorizing a surveyor to lay off the land. The purchaser or warrantee entered a claim to the land by depositing the warrant with the surveyor of the county where the land was located. After the completion of the survey, the warrantee returned the land warrant and survey to the Land Office. The papers were filed for at least six months. If no caveat was entered, the plat and a certificate of survey were recorded and the grant was issued by the Register. After the grant was written it was signed by the Governor, sealed, recorded, and delivered to the grantee.

Reference: Library of Virginia website section: About Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants/Northern Neck and Surveys.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Courtney, Amos S.
• Courtney, Michael.
• Courtney, Robert.
• Courtney, Thomas.
• Courtney, William.
• Courtney-Lazell family
• Genealogy
• Lazell, Thomas.
• Monongalia County (W. Va.)
• United States -- History -- War of 1812