The answer to your question may depend on who is the person seeking land (military veteran, large land company, etc); when the land is sought (before or after 1779); and in what part of Virginia the land is sought. See Daphne S. Gentry and John S. Salmon, Virginia Land Office Inventory (3rd ed., 1981). A shorter summary of the Virginia Land Office records can be found at http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whatwehave/land/rn20_landoffice.htm and a brief explanation of the headright system can be had at http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whatwehave/local/va4_headrights.htm Ed Redmond Reference Specialist Geography and Map Division Library of Congress 101 Independence Ave, SE Washington, DC 20540-4650 (202) 707-8548 [log in to unmask] >>> [log in to unmask] 12/16/2003 11:15:19 PM >>> Sarah Hughes listed the steps to obtain patent, namely registration of "rights", then entry, then surveying, and finally submission to Jamestown or Williamsburg where the patent was issued. Not clear is the point in the process when corner markers and lines were established on the ground. Was a tract laid out - were the corner trees chosen and the lines blazed - before the step of surveying described by Hughes? In this case, the step of surveying was simply one of measuring pre-determined lines. And if this was the case, how was the acreage of a tract made to agree with the "rights"? Did a would-be patentee know enough about surveying to lay out a tract of area justified by his "rights"? Did he hire the county surveyor to lay out the lines between the steps of registration of "rights" and entry? T.T. Bannister Dept. of Biology Univ. of Rochester Rochester, NY 14627-0211 Tel 585-275-8716 Fax 585-275-2070 To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html