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Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
Pennsylvania State Archives
Below are links to the scanned pages of the Copied Survey Books. These pages faithfully reproduce the original surveys done for persons purchasing unclaimed land directly from the Land Office maintained by William Penn's family, and later by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Each survey is a drawing on a separate page, and shows the name of the individual for whom the tract was surveyed, the acreage, the courses and distances and the names of adjoining property owners, and occasionally other significant geographical features of the landscape (water features, etc). The endorsement "Returned" and the date on the reverse side of each page refer to the date the Surveyor General sent the return of survey to the Secretary of the Land Office to prepare a patent. If the date of the patent itself is not known, the return date provides a useful starting point for patent searches.
The Copied Survey Books are divided into sub-series as follows:
Steps for Using the scanned Copied Surveys:
COPIED SURVEY Subseries and Volumes
PA State Archives | Hours, Directions, & Fees | Research Topics | Online Catalog | Land Records |