Warrants & Patents:
Land Grants before the Public Domain
Lands dispersed by the Federal Government were known as Public Domain states. The starting point for those states is the Bureau of Land Management's General Land Office Records ( BLM GLO)
Non-Public Domain states were dispersed through large land grants and a state land office rather than the Federal Government because these states began dividing lands when they still belonged to Great Britain or Mexico. Also keep in mind that the very first patents given in states that would become the Louisiana purchase were granted by Spain or France.
The original claims
Online resources for non-public domain states:
In many colonies large grants were given to wealthy individuals who subdivided. If you discover grandpa bought land in the "Beverly Tract" or the "Borden Tract" some other "Tract" with a name look for the history that tells you more about that settlement.
The process differed slightly from colony to colony/state to state but for the most part something similar happened to get a grant:
1. You petitioned for or requested the land. This might mean you showed up at the proprietors' office or some sort of council meeting, or the land office etc. but you had to give them the reason you wanted the land (it was opening up, you had money, you brought people to the colony and qualified for headright, you met some other qualification for land that was being parceled out, you had planted corn and improved this land etc. etc.)
2. You applied for a warrant which certified the actual place the land would be and how many acres.
3. The warrant information started the survey process - it would be surveyed and a plat would be drawn with a legal description of the land
4. You received the patent or grant (meaning you got the title). If money was involved you could set all this in motion before it was paid for but you would not get the patent until it was paid for. Be aware that many people started the process of petitioning, getting a warrant and survey but moving on before they ever got the patent. Also be aware that in some places people might live on their land for a generation or two before anyone in the family got around to entering the patent.
If you get a copy of warrant, survey, patent etc. make note of ANY name that appears. You want the neighbors (often shown in the survey plat). The surveyor may not be so important, as the same guy often does everyone in the area, but chain carriers matter. You often got "the boys" in the family to go out and carry the chains that measured the land. Early patents are usually measured in poles, rods or perches - all of which were about 16 1/2 feet.
New England Colonies / States:
Grants usually went to a group of men called town proprietors (sometimes called "Commoners"). In New England the TOWN is the center of everything. (later called township). The town was a geographical unit extending beyond the village to some agreed boundary with the next town. Townships of New England sometimes have strange shapes because of arguments about those boundaries.
This means when you go to look for film for land grants in New England you go to the town and look for the proprietor's minutes as well as anything labeled land records.
After that check county resources as some land entries were kept at that level. In some places at some times in early New England you had to be a "freeman" to qualify. This meant you had taken an oath that you had not come there because you owed money (or because you had been chased away from somewhere else for not working hard enough) and that you would follow the laws of that colony. You could not become a freeman instantly - there was usually a waiting period. [This was a New England custom - usually if you see "freeman" in the middle colonies south it has to do with someone who had been indentured and service was up.]
In the early colonies lands were divided equally among members. Puritans were very communal in their approach and did not want some to own large pieces of the town while others went without or had minimal holdings.
As the New England township/range system grew westward it became more uniform - land was surveyed in 6 mile by six mile squares.
Make sure to check Google Books for New England town records - they have many many volumes of them
New Hampshire
Township grants of lands in New Hampshire including the Masonian patent
Rhode Island
Rhode Island Land Evidence v. 1 1648-1696 has abstracts of the earliest grants and deeds
Vermont:
Vermont was first a part of Massachusetts until 1749 when NH claimed it and laid out grants for much of it. In 1764 NY tried to claim a large share of Vermont as well and Vermont did not become it's own state/province until 1777 so check NH & NY resources as well.
Massachusetts land Grants in Vermont from Internet Archive
Charters granted by the State of Vermont from the Internet Archive
Outside of New England:
In the American South and the Middle Colonies COUNTIES matter. If you want to find records online or order film etc. you must know the county and it has to be the county that existed when your ancestor lived there so make certain you know the boundary changes.
Virginia was the mother of the south - meaning most of the colonies below her or just west of her did most things the way she did. They used metes and bounds, often (but not always) had similar dower laws and similar ways to dispose of lands.
Middle Colonies also used metes and bounds but they often had unique ways of doing things so don't make assumptions.
In southern and middle colony states most early warrants were done in metes & bounds and were sometimes referred to as "tomahawk grants" because frontiersmen made marks in trees marking boundaries, then went to apply/petition for his claim.
Headright grants were used in various southern colonies & states - you got land for bringing adults to settle in the colony. The rules varied in the place your ancestor settled. Virginia's headrights are most famous but if you find an ancestor elsewhere you receives headright look in Google Books for the laws concerning headrights in that state/colony.
Many middle colony land records can be found by searching Google Books
BOUNTY LANDS: Bockstruck's index to Revolutionary War Bounty Land Grants on Google Books allows many pages to be viewed
One other place where patent information can sometimes be referenced in tax lists. Here is an example from Kentucky
Middle Colonies / States:
Maryland
MD LandRec.Net - has the original patents and all Maryland deeds digitized. You must sign up for a password but if you have Maryland ancestors it is a must! It is well designed and wonderful to use.
New York
New York had a complicated grant system. The best indexes are in book form (WAGS has them)
New York Land Grants Patents and Purchases - the original lands in New York were first patented by a complicated patchwork of grants to various land dealers and speculators. This map is helpful in guessing what patent was granted in the area where your family lived.
Most of western New York was patented by the Holland Land Company - there is a good overview here and NY Heritage has a map collection for the Holland Land Company lands
FamilySearch does have New York deeds 1630-1975 Check the grantee index for the county - many times their first entry deed is from the land company to your family member
Pennsylvania:
Pennsylvania Land Grant Records from the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission have the scanned images and indexes, finding aids etc. as well as many of the Warantee maps for some counties.
Pennsylvania Archives Collection at Fold3 has abstracts of many deeds, patents and property tax from colonial Pennsylvania - this collection does not require a subscription
Index to warrantees of land in the several counties of the state of Pennsylvania: Clinton, Blair, Northampton, Lehigh, Wayne, Pike, Berks, Schuylkill, Clarion, Westmoreland, Washington, Greene, Armstrong, Indiana, Elk, Montour, Forest, Sullivan and Snyder Counties from Internet Archives
Southern Colonies / States:
Georgia
Georgia Headright and Bounty Land Records, 1783-1909 - images from FamilySearch - you have to browse to use them but they are arranged alphabetically.
Georgia Colonial and Headright Plat Index 1735-1866 from Georgia's Virtual Vault
Headright and Bounty Plats from Georgia's Virtual Vault
Kentucky
If your family got a grant prior to statehood in 1784 the grant was given by Virginia so check the Virginia Land Office Grants from the Library of Virginia
Kentucky land grant databases from the Kentucky Land Office
North Carolina
North Carolina Land Grants Images and Data
South Carolina Online Plats for State Land Grants 1784-1868 from the South Carolina Dept. of Archives & History
Virginia
Since so much of the 1790 census was lost for Virginia, Virginia Tax Payers 1782-1787 at FamilySearch can be very helpful
Library of Virginia Catalog Search from the Library of Virginia - start here because you never know what you might find! Pay close attention to the filters on the left of your search results.
Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents from the Virginia Magazine of History
Virginia Land Office Grants from the Library of Virginia
Cavaliers and Pioneers v. 1: 3, 5 - a calendar of Virginia Land Grants, 1623-1800
Cavaliers and Pioneers v. 1:4 - a calendar of Virginia Land Grants, 1623-1800
Cavaliers and Pioneers v. 1:6 - a calendar of Virginia Land Grants, 1623-1800
Dyer's Index to Land Grants in West Virginia v. 1 from the Internet Archive
Dyer's Index to Land Grants in West Virginia v. 2 from the Internet Archive
Texas
Texas General Land Office Archives
Texas: Map of Land Grants and Political Divisions: 1821-1836