Clarification of date for US-BLM Tract Books 1800-1955 Part A

Ben Fredric Davis

Are we to enter the "Date of Sale" date or the "Date of Patent" date?

• The Date of Sale frequently has the signature of the purchaser, which verifies that they were alive at the time of sale. Under the Date of Patent column the County Recorder writes the outcome of the proving of the land grant. These include the dates of Final Certificate, Patent, abandonment, cancellation, relinquishment, etc., all of which can occur even if the purchaser has died. If one of the purposes of indexing these names is to show that an individual existed (through use of a legal record such as a Tract Book} and verify a date that they are alive, then the Date of Sale would provide that, while the later more recent "outcome" date may not. The Project Instructions state; "If multiple dates were recorded for a single transaction, index the most recent date." Frequently, especially for those entries written in pencil, a range of dates are given over which the transaction has taken place. In that case I record the most recent date (also, pencil entries often do not have an outcome). I do not enter the "outcome" date as placed in the "Date of Patent" column on entries written in ink for reasons stated above. As I am now reviewing and correcting BLM Part A records, it is important to know which date is preferred: the Date of Sale or the date of the "outcome". Please advise.

KLaRRees

It would appear that The instructions for the date is clear. Type the most recent date - if the Date of Sale is the most recent. Then use that. If the date of Patent is the most recent. Use this date. The object is to point the researchers to the names of the people that existed in that place and around that time. The completed index and links to digital images will be freely accessible online to the general public when the collection is published.

CScott278

Use most recent date as stated above, and per instructions. Although date may be the cancellation date, it is still the most recent action on that property.