What is Virginia land grant system?

Answer 1

The opportunity to grant land in Virginia was very different from the system England used.

The Virginia Land Grant system (1623-1774) was in several parts. One grant patent was for any person who qualified as a planter. In practice, however, it was granted to the person who paid for transportation cost of the emigrant and not the settler himself. This was called the "Headright System." Indentured servants were lured to the colony through promises of land, and the system of headrights encouraged wealthy investors to acquire large tracts of land and "plant" them with settlers in order to gain title. Another method was by the military for anyone willing to live in hostile territory.

Land Office Grants, 1779--1993

The Virginia Land Office was established in 1779 by the General Assembly and was headed by a Register "appointed from time to time, by joint ballot of both houses of assembly. . . . " It was the responsibility of the Register to carry out the very carefully structured legislation that provided the procedure for obtaining waste and unappropriated lands.

Under the act, any person could purchase as much land as desired upon payment to the Treasurer of a fee of forty pounds for one hundred acres. In return the purchaser was given a receipt, that was then given to the Auditor of Public Accounts, who issued a certificate noting the amount of land to which the person was entitled. The certificate was taken to the Land Office where the Register entered a warrant authorizing a surveyor to lay off the land. The warranty entered a claim to the land by depositing the warrant with the surveyor of the county in which the land was located.