Florida Land Office Records

Land records, plat maps, proceedings, papers, correspondence.

This collection consists of microfilm of land records of the Surveyor General's Office for East and West Florida, starting from 1781. It includes plat maps of Lake Okeechobee shoreline, dating 1913-1915, The Forbes Purchase, private land claims, 1855-1858, the American State Papers on Public Lands, the proceedings of the Land Commissioners, 1822-1824, with records of British and Spanish land claims, and correspondence of the Surveyor General's Office, 1825-1848. Some subjects or persons relevant to this collection include the Florida Everglades, Lord John Nisbet, Apalachicola Land Company, J. P. Williams, Carrabelle, Florida, Andrew Jackson, The Carrera Grant, Colonel Robert Butler, Romeo Lewis, Fort Barrancas, St. Michael's Catholic Church, San Carlos de Barrancas, and Joseph Caro.



NOTES: Some confusion in titles between box labels, microfilm targets, typescript targets, and actual records are discernible. Study inventory carefully.



The following reels of microfilm were copied from records in the Florida Department of Natural Resources. A study of the reels shows some discrepancies in the titles as given on the box labels, on handwritten targets on the film, on typed targets on the film, and the actual records themselves. For cataloging purposes, each reel is carefully annotated so that the user may identify the reel by box label or location on the film. Label means box label. Target means a handdrawn sheet on the film. Typed target is a typed sheet on the film. Mss. target is a target on the film which was probably the original "title page" of the item being filmed. Mss. means the manuscript records or books being filmed.