Annette Lyttle explains how the availability of affordable land acted as a catalyst for migration for many ancestors. The presentation covers colonial land grants, military bounty land, cash sales, and homesteading.
Key takeaways include:
- Colonial land grants were used by European powers to attract settlers to new areas in North America.
- Military bounty land was granted to soldiers as an incentive to serve in wars and to populate frontier areas.
- The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed individuals and families to acquire land by living on it and making it productive.
A unique insight from the webinar is that the Virginia Company’s headright system tied the important factors of migration and land together by rewarding population increase with additional grants of land. This system allowed any person who paid their own transportation expense to settle in Virginia, or who paid for someone else to settle in Virginia, to receive 50 acres of land per settler.
To learn more about this topic and delve deeper into the records that will help uncover your ancestors’ migration stories, view the full webinar.
Comments (63)
Ms. Burke is well-informed on the subjects and I always enjoy her presentations. Glad to see her appearing here at Legacy Webinars.
Fantastic webinar! Lots of information to help me in my research. Thank you!
Excellent overview of various types of government land grants.
Thank you for a great webinar. Definitely an interesting topic and fascinating as well!
Very pleased to have handout
Nice overview with good examples. Thanks!
Very clear, concise summary--I understand it much better now
I will be watching this one again and letting my DAR friends know about this webinar. Thanks so much for such great information.