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During the early years of the British colonies in North America, headrights were issued as an inducement to emigrate. A headright typically was worth fifty acres for each person imported into the colony, although each colony that issued headrights had different amounts at different times. |
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Genealogists use certificates and claims of headrights to establish a date by which a person had immigrated to the colonies. Many times, as in the example, the certificate was not granted until many years after the original petition. |
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Genealogists also use these records to find women
and minorities, who are rarely named in other records.
These records should be used with care, because many headright claims were fraudulent. A headright claim should always be supported with other documents that prove the person actually existed. |
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Most colonial land grants based on headright claims have been abstracted and published. The published abstracts are available at the LDS Family History Library and Family History Centers, and in many private, public, state, and university libraries. Genealogists use the published abstracts to locate where the claimant lived. Few headright petitions and certificates have been abstracted and published. They must be found in county court records. |
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