Missouri State Archives Finding Aid 951

Missouri State ArchivesFinding Aid 951.2U.S. RECORDER OF LAND TITLESSECOND BOARD OF LAND COMMISSIONERSPAPERS OF ORIGINAL CLAIMANTS, 1785-1857Abstract: Papers of original claimants (1785-1857) submitted before the Second Board of LandCommissioners to determine validity of French and Spanish land grants made before theLouisiana Purchase.Extent: 5.6 cubic ft. (10 legal-size Hollinger boxes 2 flat boxes)Physical Description: PaperLocation: MSA Rare DocumentsADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATIONAccess Restrictions: No special restrictions. However, some records may be too fragile to beproduced or may be undergoing conservation treatment.Publication Restrictions: Copyright is in the public domain. Items reproduced for publicationshould carry the credit line: Courtesy of the Missouri State Archives.Preferred Citation: [Name], [Class of Decision: 1st or 2nd], [Decision #]; Papers of OriginalClaimants, 1785-1857; Second Board of Land Commissioners; U.S. Recorder of Land Titles,Record Group 951; Missouri State Archives, Jefferson City.Acquisition Information: Agency transfer. Various accessions.Processing Information: Processing completed by Mary Kay Coker on June 14, 2010.HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTESOn July 9, 1832, after continued appeal from claimants whose petitions for land had been denied,Congress passed “An Act for the final adjustment of private land claims in Missouri.” It was not,as it turned out, the final adjustment, but it did establish a Second Board of Land Commissioners.

PAPERS OF ORIGINAL CLAIMANTS (2nd BOARD), 1785-1857As in the first board, the second board numbered three members and included the recorder ofland titles. Its purpose was “to examine all the unconfirmed claims to land in that state foundedupon any incomplete grant, concession, warrant, or order of survey, issued by the authority ofFrance or Spain, prior to the tenth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and four.” Theywere instructed to class these claims into, first, those that would have been confirmed if thegovernment under which the claims were made had continued in Missouri and, second, thoseclaims that were, in the opinion of the board, “destitute of merit.”On March 2, 1833, Congress passed “An Act supplemental to the act entitled ‘An act for thefinal adjustment of land claims in Missouri,’” which extended the board’s consideration to“every claim to a donation of land in the state of Missouri, held in virtue of settlement andcultivation.”Members of the Second Board of Land Commissioners:(1) Frederick Rector Conway, Recorder of Land Titles(2) Lewis F. Linn, resigned, replaced by James H. Relfe(3) Wilkins Updyke, resigned, replaced by Albert G. Harrison, resigned, replaced by James S.Mayfield, removed, replaced by Falkland H. MartinTranslator and clerk: Julius De MunOn July 4, 1836, Congress passed “An Act confirming claims to land in the State of Missouri,and for other purposes,” which confirmed the 1st class decisions of the board. As for the rejecteddecisions in the 2nd class and over 700 claims they made no decision on, Congress hedged theirbets: “saving and reserving, however, to all adverse claimants, the right to assert the validity oftheir claims in a court or courts of justice.” It also gave some relief to those who had alreadypurchased land in these disputed areas by stating that the original claimant (or their legalrepresentatives) was then to have a certificate to relocate on other land.For three years, the board met and deliberated and finally submitted their report, which can befound in the American State Papers (ASP) on Public Lands, Vol. 6, Vol. 7, and Vol. 8. Thereport is arranged first by class (1st Class being recommended for confirmation or 2nd Class beingrecommended for rejection) and then by decision number within that class. The report includes adetailed list of evidence and, in many cases, copies and translations of the submitted documentsexcept surveys and deeds. The papers submitted by the original claimants (or theirrepresentatives) in this series are organized in the same manner.Since the ASP has been fully indexed, it can serve as an everyname index to most of thesepapers. Not all papers have been found, some were returned to the claimants or their attorneysfor cases before the courts, and some decisions were based only on testimony found in theminutes (hence, no original papers).When the ASP refers to volumes either by letter or number, these are RG 951 Record Books A-Gand Minutes of the Board of Land Commissioners (Vols. 1-7). Both series have beenmicrofilmed. Note, however, that Record Book E is missing. There is yet another copy, however,Missouri State ArchivesPage 2 of 67Finding Aid 951.2

PAPERS OF ORIGINAL CLAIMANTS (2nd BOARD), 1785-1857of decisions and submitted evidence besides the ASP and the previously noted volumes; theseare copies of the 1st class decisions that were apparently once bound but are now loose and foundin four flat archival boxes in Rare Documents.Many records are in French or Spanish. The measurement used for most land records is inFrench arpents. Most of the reports use the anglicized version of given names, although there aresome exceptions. The choice may have more to do with the clerk or government in power thanwith the nationality of the claimant. For instance, James MacKay, who was Scottish, is referredto as both Santiago (Spanish) and Jacques (French).The records of the 2nd Board include wrappers, plats of survey, deeds, receipts, concessions,depositions, and affidavits.Wrappers (small pieces of paper used to wrap around the original bundle) generally give thename of the original claimant, arpents or acres claimed, decision number, and dated filed withthe board. Occasionally a notation will also give its disposition, such as “laid over for decision”or “rejected.” Some note that there are “no papers.”Plats of surveys are in English, Spanish, and French. Technically, they are plats (maps) andtranscripts of surveys, as they not only show graphically where the land is (plat) but also give thedescription (transcript) in metes and bounds (e.g., 10 poles from a white oak tree). In general, if aplat of survey is marked “received of record” by Antoine Soulard, it is not found in the Registred’Arpentage, which has a notation in it by Soulard stating that, due to the increased number ofsurveys submitted, those he was unable to record before turning over his records to the newsurveyor general would be noted as “received of record.” Many of these surveys are dated inFebruary of 1806. If, on the other hand, it is certified as recorded by Soulard, the plat of surveyshould have a marking on the plat, usually beginning “A sentado libro” and giving the booknumber (A, B, C, D, etc), page number, and survey number in the Registre d’Arpentage. A list ofsurveys greater than 300 arpents found in the Registre d’Arpentage can be found in ASP 8:848–867. Copies of the plats of survey are also usually found in the Record Books (RG 951) A-G(missing E).Deeds convey property from one party to another. For a small number, there are documents,particularly deeds of conveyance in French that are not found in ASP in full (merely called deedsof conveyance or transfers). Presumably these deeds are also recorded in county offices and aresometimes themselves copies made from county records. For early New Madrid deeds, thesecopies may be all that now exist.Receipts for original papers are found in several folders, meaning the original claimant or theirlegal representative had retrieved the papers from the board. In only a few occasions were thesepapers returned. If an attorney or agent obtained the original papers, it is possible that the papersmay still exist in court or Congressional records, as that was the next step in the process if onehad still been rejected at the close of the board.Concessions are actually two documents, the petition of the claimant to the Spanish or Frenchgovernment, and the concession by the government official, most often Lt. Gov. Zenon TrudeauMissouri State ArchivesPage 3 of 67Finding Aid 951.2

PAPERS OF ORIGINAL CLAIMANTS (2nd BOARD), 1785-1857or Carlos Dehault Delassus. The date of the document given here is the concession date and notthe petition date. Sometimes the petition and concession are in different languages (e.g., petitionin French and concession in Spanish) but all are in one of the two languages unless it is atranslated copy. Some concessions also include a recommendation from a lower levelgovernment official. In comparison to surveys and depositions, the number of originalconcessions is few, perhaps because the claimants and their attorneys were anxious to have thesereturned. Most of the concessions from the 2nd Board are translated in ASP.Depositions are almost always originals, with the signatures (or marks) of those deposingcertified by one or more of the Board. In ASP, both testimony and depositions are given and thewords are used interchangeably. For the purposes of this finding aid, depositions aredistinguished solely by the signature or mark of the deposer, which is always given in CAPITALletters in the ASP. Testimony, on the other hand, is found in the minute books (Vols. 6 and 7) ofthe Board and should be referred to in the ASP by volume and page number.Affidavits, while similar to depositions, appear to have been given in front of some other official,often a notary or county clerk, rather than before the Board. They are relatively few in number.T translation available in folder(#) is an identifying number placed on the document (probably by the WPA)(OVERSIZE) is in flat box housingADDITIONAL DESCRIPTIVE INFORMATIONBibliographyAmerican State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the UnitedStates . Selected and Edited, under the Authority of Congress, by Walter Lowrie and MatthewSt. Clair Clarke. Reprint. Greenville, SC: Southern Historical Press, 1994. Vol. 6: 1828-1834,Public Lands. Vol. 7: 1834, Public Lands. Vol. 8: 1835-1837. (Available in MSA ReferenceRoom. Indexed.)Related MaterialClosely related are the Papers of Original Claimants, 1777-1851, of the First Board of LandCommissioners. Minutes (and printed indexes) of both boards are also available. Many of theoriginal records, including many not kept by the board, were copied into record books (VolumesA-G, with E missing). The Registre d’Arpentage includes copies of plats of some early claims.Related records may also be found at the Land Records Repository of the Department of NaturalResources in Rolla.Missouri State ArchivesPage 4 of 67Finding Aid 951.2