United States, Cancelled, Relinquished, or Rejected Land Entry Case Files - FamilySearch Historical Records

Record Description
This collection includes serialized land entry case files that were cancelled, relinquished, or rejected by the General Land Office for the years 1868 to 1933. The applications include homesteads, mining claims, and land preemptions. This collection includes Nebraska land offices at Alliance, Broken Bow, Lincoln, North Platte, O'Neill, and Valentine. The records are at the NARA Regional Center in Kansas City, Missouri. This collection is being published as images become available.

Record Content
The records usually include:


 * Name of applicant
 * Date
 * Description and location of land

How to Use the Record
To begin your search it is helpful to know


 * Name of the applicant
 * Approximate date of application

Search the Collection
To search the collection by name fill in your ancestor’s name in the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about those in the list to what you already know about your own ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person.

If you did not find the person you were looking for, you may need to search the collection image by image. ⇒ Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒ Select the "Record" ⇒ Select the "Record Type, Volume, and Year Range" which takes you to the images.

Look at the images one by one. Again you will need to compare the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine which one is your ancestor.

Be aware that with either search you may need to compare the information about more than one person to make this determination. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names or variations of their name throughout their life.
 * If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names.
 * Even though these indexes are very accurate they may still contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line video at FamilySearch Search Tips.

Using the Information
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. Save a copy of the image or transcribe the information. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details. Add this new information to your records of each family. You should also look for leads to other records about your ancestors. For example:


 * Use the name, location and date to find the family in census records.
 * Use the description and location of land to find the family in land records.
 * Use the description and location of land to find the family in probate records.

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * Search for records of people in the county who shared a surname. These may have been the couple’s parents, uncles, or other relatives.
 * When looking for a person who had a common name, look at all the entries for the name before deciding which is correct.

Unable to Find Your Ancestor?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for nicknames and abbreviated names.
 * Check for nearby land owners with similar or variant spellings of the surnames.
 * Look for an index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records.
 * Search the indexes and records of other land offices

Related Websites

 * National Archives Land Records
 * National Archives Records of the Bureau of Land Management
 * National Archives Index to Cancelled, Rejected, and Relinquished Land Entry Files

Related Wiki Articles

 * United States Land and Property
 * Nebraska Land and Property
 * Kansas Land and Property

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.

A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the wiki article Help:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Record collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher, and archive for the original records.