Michigan History: Public Land Survey System - MI Land Sales

Presented by Don Batkins. After the Treaty of Paris, the U.S. developed a land description system, which they called the “Public Land Survey System" (PLSS). It was then applied to surveys of land beyond the original 13 states. This talk summarizes the pre-Revolutionary War land description systems, provides details of the new PLSS, and describes how the new system was used to sell land to individuals settling in areas outside of the original 13 states. The talk includes maps, imagery, and textual material about the PLSS. It also provides examples of how to locate information about an ancestor's land from its sale by the government until the present.