Land Records
Did you family own land or property in Madera County? Or maybe you’re a map geek like me and enjoy looking at old maps? Thanks to the Chowchilla Historical Society, we have the 1920 Madera County Land Plat Maps and they are a family researcher’s gold mine for Madera County. Not only do they reflect an ancestors name and location of property, but also their neighbors, buildings, rivers, schools, even the Sugar Pine Lumber Company Flume! Below is a digitized image of Township 8 South, Range 20 East in Madera County.
If you are more tech minded, patrons can come in to the California Room and learn how to navigate the Bureau of Land Management’s website. According to the BLM website “We provide live access to Federal land conveyance records for the Public Land States, including image access to more than five million Federal land title records issued between 1820 and the present”. When I have used their website, I’ve been able to search homestead records back to when California became a state, including Native American Land Allotments issued by the Federal Government. Did your family live in another state? The BLM website has information on records outside of the State of California as well. For example, I found my Grandfather’s, 3 times removed, Land Patent in Oklahoma dated 1902. Some original Land Patents haven’t been digitized, but many have and are available to print for your records.
Madera County has two incorporated cities, the City of Madera and the City of Chowchilla. Chowchilla was form when the U.S. Farm Land Company, led by O.A. Robertson in the early 1900’s, purchased large amounts of land which were divided into lots and marketed for sale all over the United States. The Bill of Sale records for these lots were kept in great detail and are included in our Chowchilla Historical Society’s collection. Patrons whose ancestors lived in Chowchilla are welcome to research these historic records as they provide the Buyer’s original home address as well as the Lot Numbers purchased and Description of Property.
The above mentioned collections can be a valuable resource to those who had ancestors living in Madera County but who have been difficult to research. Lots of detailed information and not found anywhere else but our California History and Family Research Room here in Madera. Next post will cover our Early Madera County Schools Collection.
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