1. Name of applicant   2. Number of acres in application   3. Location of land   4. Owner of adjoining land   5. Certification of information   6. Date of certification   7. Signatures of persons certifying eligibility   8. Director of Land Office

Bounty Land Application from Northumberland County, Pennsylvania

Bounty Land

Most states had some provisions for giving land away to reward veterans. For example, Pennsylvania awarded land to qualified Revolutionary War veterans. The number of acres authorized depended on the rank of the veteran, from 200 acres for a Private to 2,000 areas for a Major General.

You can use bounty land applications to establish the Revolutionary War service and rank of an ancestor, and to establish the residence of that ancestor after the war. In the example, the application for 300 acres indicates that the ancestor was probably an Ensign during the Revolutionary War, and proves that he lived in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania after the war. In Pennsylvania, bounty land applications also specify the township in which the land is located, a very important clue.

Some state bounty land applications have been abstracted and published, and most have been microfilmed. Both published and microfilmed records can be found at the LDS Family History Library and Family History Centers, and in the collections of private, public, university, and state libraries.

Original state bounty land applications are maintained by the state land office or archives. Contact the state land office or archives for further information.

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