New York State Assembly Surveyor General's Reports on Petitions to the State Legislature

Chronological.

The Legislature referred most petitions relating to land transactions to the surveyor general for comment. The surveyor general prepared these reports in response. The reports concern: value of land; land claims and title disputes; errors in previous surveys and results of new surveys; requests for grants of unappropriated state land; surveys and sales of state land; grants of land to persons whose grants in the military tract could not be cultivated or contained fewer acres than they were supposed to; and requests for title to unappropriated lands which the petitioner(s) had settled and improved.

There are also supporting records interfiled with the reports, including: survey maps; minutes and resolutions of the Commissioners of the Land Office regarding orders to or receipt of reports from the surveyor general; original petitions on which the surveyor general reported; and affidavits supporting petitions.

Transcripts of a few surveyor general's reports, including one from this series (p. 295 of "Assembly Papers" volume 38), are in series A0042, Transcripts of Reports Regarding Claims for Revolutionary War Service (see especially p. 877ff).

Microfilm is available for use at the New York State Archives or through interlibrary loan.

Two alphabetical name and location indexes (to volumes 37 and 38).

In the 1830s the secretary of state's office bound these records as Volumes 37 and 38 of "Assembly Papers." The records suffered burn damage in the State Capitol fire of 1911 and were disbound.

Access to original records is restricted due to burn damage sustained in the 1911 New York State Capitol building fire.