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Arkansas School Lands Sales

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Arkansas School Lands Sales, 1853-1997
Compiled by Desmond Walls Allen, ISBN 1-56546-202-5, 178 pages, softbound, $25.00

Click here to view the list of names in this volume

Arkansas is a public domain land state -- all of our land once belonged to the federal government. The Feds gave the State of Arkansas the land in each sixteenth section in every survey township in the state to benefit schools. Through the years the county school commissioners sold that sixteenth section land to build school houses and pay teachers. Over 8,000 patents for the school lands were issued to buyers. The records of these folks are in three volumes at the State Land Commissioner's office in Little Rock. And all those records are included in this volume, making the information available to researchers for the first time.

Any record that ties a person to a specific piece of land at a given time is important to family historians. This book lists the names of the people who acquired the land and gives the purchase dates and the patent dates. The land description (township and range), county, number of acres, and any notes about the records are listed in this book. Many of the patents were issued to more than one buyer. Some husbands and wives are listed together. Some co-buyers were business partners or relatives. Some of the patents show the original buyer and assignees who bought the rights to patent. When a deceased person's estate was involved, often the names of the heirs are listed.

The introductory information in the book completely explains the records. A history of Arkansas schools is included, as well as maps and examples, and a list of county information.

Are your folks included? We've posted a full-name index to the book. Click on the link above and see if your family bought school lands.

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