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Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
Pennsylvania State Archives
The Donation Land program was used by the Commonwealth to induce men to stay
in service during the Revolutionary War. Each Pennsylvania Line soldier and
officer who served in the Continental forces until the end of the war was to
receive a bounty, or donation, of a tract of land consisting of 200, 250, 350
or 500 acres, the size of the tract to be based upon his rank. The Donation
Land area was located within the Purchase of 1784, immediately to the north
of the Depreciation Lands and west of the Allegheny River, including parts of
the counties of Butler, Clarion, Crawford, Erie, Lawrence, Mercer, Venango and
Warren. The land was divided into ten surveying districts, with 2,570 lots totalling
over 550,000 acres of land eventually created by the Land Office. The tracts
were distributed by a lottery system. After enough tracts were surveyed and
numbered, their corresponding tract numbers were placed in one of four lottery
wheels, one wheel for each tract size, and drawn periodically. For a full synopsis
of the Donation Land program, please consult Donna Munger's Pennsylvania
Land Records - A History and Guide for Research, pages 163-167. For
related records see Return Book of Pennsylvania Line Entitled to Donation Lands,
undated {series #4.50}
in the Records of the Office of Comptroller General.
Please click on the links below to view one of the scanned Donation Land series:
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