Welcome to Ancestor Tracks!
Our goal is to help you track your early ancestors who moved through Pennsylvania through their land tracts! Ancestor Tracks is dedicated to publishing maps and land ownership information allowing genealogy researchers to more precisely pinpoint the locations where our ancestors lived. Land ownership maps are one of the most valuable, yet underused, tools available to researchers. We now offer two product lines which complement each other: (1) state-wide Warrant, Patent, and Tract Name Registers which document the first transfers of land from the Penns or the state to private owners (see below); and (2) county atlases of the Pennsylvania Township Warrantee Maps on file at the Pennsylvania Archives in Harrisburg showing the exact metes-and-bounds tracts of early pioneers who purchased land from colonial or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania authorities. As a service, we are also publishing online land ownership maps from the nineteenth century which can be used in conjunction with census records.
More specific information is available for newsletter editors, speakers and educators, professional genealogists, genealogical librarians , historical societies, and linking to our website. If you would like additional information, here is a PowerPoint Presentation (12.7 MB) giving further information about Ancestor Tracks.
STATE-WIDE REFERENCE RESOURCES
NEW RELEASE--We are proud to announce publication of the fourth CD in the set which will eventually cover about 95% of the first transfers of land from colonial or state jurisdiction to private owners: the New Purchase Applications Register. This ledger contains the names of the warrantees and patentees and the descriptions of tract locations for about 4,000 tracts which settlers purchased after vast territory was opened to settlement by the Treaty of Fort Stanwix of 1768.
Other major resources for locating the earliest private purchasers of land across Pennsylvania are the Warrant Registers, indexes to the Patent Registers, and Tract Name Indexes from 1682-1959+.
The first CD, First Landowners of Pennsylvania: Colonial and State Warrant Registers in the Pennsylvania Archives in Harrisburg, contains all 70 of the Warrant Registers showing the first transfer of land tracts to private owners. These are the people who applied for land from either the Propietors or the state. These records start in 1682 and continue through most of the first legally-recognized owners of land originally owned by the Penns, and later the state, to private individuals. Every county register, containing thousands of pages, is on this CD. The dates of land transfers continue throughout the 1700s and 1800s and into the mid-1900s. NOTE: These registers document the first owners of land for approximately 70% of Pennsylvania and cover each county. The registers should not be confused with the deed registers located in the counties which show all subsequent land transfers.
The second CD in this series, First Landowners of Pennsylvania: Indexes to the Colonial and State Patent Registers in the PA Archives, Harrisburg, 1684-ca 1995, contains the indexes to all people who actually were granted final title from colony or state authorities. In very many cases, they are not the same individuals who actually applied for the land (termed warrantees).
Finally, the third CD, First Landowners of Pennsylvania: Indexes to Tract Names of Patented Land in the PA Archives, Harrisburg, ca 1684-1811, is the place to look when only the original name of the tract is known but not who the very first owners were.COUNTY ATLASES
COMING THIS SPRING: LANCASTER COUNTY ATLAS! Early Landowners of Pennsylvania: Atlas of Township Patent Maps of Lancaster County, PA and its companion CD of Lancaster Co. Township Warrantee Maps showing the original tracts superimposed over current roads, towns, subdivisions, etc. We have also posted the 1864 Bridgens Atlas of Lancaster County for use with the 1860 and 1870 census records.
JUST RELEASED: WESTMORELAND COUNTY ATLAS! Early Landowners of Pennsylvania: Atlas of Township Patent Maps of Westmoreland County, PA (527 pages) and its companion CD of Westmoreland Co. Detailed Tract Maps at the Westmoreland Co. Courthouse. (.pdf images of 353 maps showing the original tracts superimposed over current roads, towns, subdivisions, etc. )
RECENTLY RELEASED--Early Landowners of Pennsylvania: Atlas of Township Warrantee Maps of Berks County, PA (575 pages) and its companion CD, Berks County Township Warrantee Maps on CD. This CD contains the full-sized images of the maps shown in the atlas which can be enlarged almost infinitely. In addition to being able to see every detail of each individual tract (including the "white oak" and "stone pile" notations), you can cut and paste individual tracts to illustrate your family history or web site.
Ancestor Tracks is committed to becoming a one-stop resource for researchers of early Pennsylvania landowners. We are adding links to other sources of Pennsylvania land records, and we eventually hope to provide such links for every county in the state. For free resources, as well as to learn about products we publish, select a county of interest or click on the map below:
