Maps and land records provide important information for genealogists.
They show changes in place names, political boundaries, individual land ownership and community and kinship ties. They can help you locate your ancestors and understand the lives they led. Here are some key map and land resources held by the New Mexico State Library.
Spanish Archives of New Mexico Series 2, Land Records of New Mexico
This two-part collection, referred to as SANM I and SANM II includes the administrative, civil, military, and ecclesiastical records of the Spanish colonial government in New Mexico, 1621-1821. The materials in both volumes reveal a broad range of information about such topics as property transactions, domestic relations, political intrigue, crime and punishment, material culture, the Camino Real, relations between Spanish settlers and indigenous peoples, the intrusion of Anglo-Americans, and the growing unrest that resulted in Mexico's independence from Spain in 1821.
SANM II includes the records of the Surveyor General and the records of
the Court of Private Land Claims including: registrations, petitions, reports, land conveyances, proceedings, wills, estate settlements, land grants, complaints, estate inventories, notices(bandos), and other types of land files.
In 1914, Ralph Emerson Twitchell published indexed translations of the SANM I and II. His work served as the basis for the Calendar of the Microfilm Edition of the Spanish Archives of New Mexico, 1621–1821. The calendar includes names and descriptions (in English) of the wide variety of documents that can be found in this collection, with “Twitchell numbers” linking items in the calendar to images of the actual record.
The New Mexico State Library has this collection on microfilm and it is available digitally at Ancestry.com as New Mexico, Land Records of New Spain, 1692-1846. The library also has the Twitchell volumes in print.
According to the National Archives,"Land case entry files can contain a wealth of genealogical and legal information. Depending upon the type and time period of the land entry, the case file may yield only a few facts already known to the researcher or it may present new insights about ancestors, family history, title, and land use issues. For example, the records may attest to one's age, place of birth, citizenship, military service, literacy, and economic status, and may even include similar information about family members. But even the smallest case files can establish locations of land ownership or settlement and dates essential to utilize other resources at NARA (National Archives and Records Administration), such as census, court, and military service and pension records."
Genealogists often use information in land patents to request case files from NARA that confirm details about their family history. You can use the The General Land Office (GLO) database to freely search for land patents. Ancestry.com, available in the library, also has a variety of land record sets including a digitized version of the Spanish Archives of New Mexico. This important primary source document contains colonial information on the state in the original Spanish.
To order a case file from NARA, be sure to provide: name of land office, land description (township, range, and section), final certificate number or patent number, and authority under which the land was acquired (i.e., homestead, cash, bounty-land warrant, mining claim). To learn more about requesting land case files, visit the National Archives website's forms section.
U.S. Homestead Records, 1863-1908 are available on Ancestry.com and contain documents from Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Utah, and Wyoming. New Mexico is not currently included in the collection but additional records will be added in the future. These documents are part of the Records of the Bureau of Land Management (formerly known as the General Land Office), Record Group (RG) 49.
Homestead files can include a wide variety of information: an application (which noted the applicant's name, place of residence, the date, the land office, and the complete land description), military records (dates of military service, units of service, manner of military service, discharge papers, and physical description), and citizenship papers.
Homestead applications also required testimonies of two neighbor witnesses in good standing. They were asked a set of questions to verify fulfillment of the homestead requirement, under penalty of law for untruthfulness. These testimonies also provide vital information about the applicant and other members of the community in which they lived.
Witnesses were asked:
full name, age, and address
if native-born, where born; and if foreign-born, proof of citizenship
married, with family information, or single;
if a married woman, status of husband’s property;
when actual residence was established;
when house was built;
whether absence has occurred, with dates and why;
character of land and improvements; and whether claimant has made other entries
View our online collection of New Mexico Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps on the library’s public computers (in-library use only). Sanborn Fire Insurance maps are accurately scaled and show street layout, building locations, and construction type. Originally made to assess fire insurance risk, they are now a valuable resource on historic towns and communities and can add a visual component to genealogy research.