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Record Group Number: 000589
Series/Collection Number: .S 1305
Creator: United States. General Land Office.  --Florida District.
Title, Dates: Armed Occupation Act permit files, 1842-1843.
Amount: 3.00 microfilm reel 35 mm.
Medium Included:
Organization/Arrangement: Applications for permits are alphabetical by name of applicant and are filed numerically within folders.  Roll 1 has applicants with the surnames A through K and L.  Roll 2 continues with surnames K and L through Z.
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use:
Biographical/Historical:     The United States General Land Office was established in 1812. Its duties were to survey and manage the public lands of the federal government.  In 1824, the post of Surveyor General of the United States for the Territory of Florida was established to survey the public lands in Florida using a township and range system.  Florida is divided into nearly 1,700 townships, each of which is a square six miles by six miles.  The selling of the surveyed public lands in 1825.

    The Florida Armed Occupation Act of 1842 (5 U.S. Statutes 502) was passed to encourage the settlement of Florida.  The Florida District General Land Offices were responsible for the handling of claims made under this Act.  The Act granted 160 acres of unsettled land south of the line separating townships 9 and 10 South (a line running East/West about three miles north of Palatka and about ten miles south of Newnansville) to any head of a family under three conditions: (1) the land selected could not be within two miles of a military post; (2) the settler must be able to bear arms and live on the land for five years; and (3) the settler must clear five acres and build a house.

    The federal land offices in Florida were closed in 1907 and its records transferred to the State Land Office and the Commissioner of Agriculture (1907, Ch. 5611, Laws).

Summary:     This series contains microfilm copies of the applications for permits to settle under the conditions of the Florida Armed Occupation Act of 1842 from 1842 to 1843.  The permits were filed at the Saint Augustine and Newnansville Federal District Land Office. It should be noted that the applications include when the applicant became a resident of Florida.  Also included in the series are notices, refusals and acceptances, and correspondence pertaining to the claims and permits issued.

Finding Aids: Microfilm listing available; index available on microfilm reel 1.
Additional Physical Form: Scans of microfilm produced by FamilySearch available at the Archives.
Reproduction Note: Microfilm.
Location of Originals/Duplicates: Dept. of Natural Resources, Division of State Lands, Tallahassee, Fla.
Associated Materials:
Language Notes:
Ownership/Custodial History:
Publication Note:
General Note:
Electronic Records Access:
Subject Access Fields: Florida Armed Occupation Act of 1842.
United States. Saint Augustine Land Office.
United States. Newnansville Land Office.
Homestead law Florida
Public land sales Florida
Territorial records. aat
Saint Augustine (Fla.)
Palatka (Fla.)
Newnansville (Fla.)
Added Entries