The Chickasaw Indian Nation relinquished all lands east of the Mississippi River and north of the Mississippi state line with the signing of the Treaty of October 19, 1818. The treaty, ratified by the United States Senate and confirmed by President James Monroe on January 7, 1819, expanded Kentucky's western territory by approximately 2,000 square miles and Tennessee's western territory by approximately 6,000 square miles.
The Kentucky Encyclopedia. The newly-acquired area in Kentucky became known as the Jackson Purchase.
On February 14, 1820, the Kentucky General Assembly passed legislation that provided for the
mapping of the lands west of the Tennessee River into ranges, townships and sections. On December 21, 1821, the legislature provided for the sale of vacant fractional or complete quarter-sections (160 acres) in the Purchase Area. On January 3, 1825, the Kentucky General Assembly mandated the appointment of a Receiver of Public Moneys to oversee the land sales. The Receiver's office was to be located in Waidsborough in Calloway County.
The West of Tennessee River Non-Military Patents
database includes the names of persons who bought tracts at public land sales, their assignees, witnesses to assignments, grantees, costs of tracts and total acreage. It contains scanned images of more than 8,500 patent files. The database also links to the
Jackson Purchase Locator, which allows researchers to determine the location of the patented tract.
The database is searchable by township, range and East/West coordinates, and information can be sorted under the grid-view option. By entering township, range and East/West coordinates into the related
Jackson Purchase Locator, researchers may determine patent receipts for any location included on the
1885 Loughridge Map of the Jackson Purchase.
For assistance researching West of Tennessee River Non-Military Patents, please review the
frequently asked questions or contact the Land Office at
(502) 564-3490 or by
email.
Further Jackson Purchase Research
Additional information regarding land patents in the Jackson Purchase Area is located in other databases on this website:
Treasury Warrants (George Rogers Clark's treasury warrants patents in the northern area of the Jackson Purchase)
Virginia and Old Kentucky Patents (Treasury warrant patents in the northern area of the Jackson Purchase: VA 8928.0; VA 8924.0; VA 3862.0; VA 8857.0; VA 9099.0; VA 8935.0; VA 9102.0; VA 9103.0; VA 8997.0)
WTR Military Patents (patents issued to Virginia Revolutionary War soldiers after the Treaty of 1818)
County Court Orders (patents issued after 1835)
Further Statewide/Regional Research
You can also request patent files for the Kentucky Land Warrant, South of Green River, Tellico and South of Walker's Line Series from the Kentucky History Center, Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, or the Land Office. Use Jillson's The Kentucky Land Grants to determine grantee, patent series and reference citation when requesting copies.