New Purchase Register and Index (pdf download)

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This .pdf download consists of all images of the New Purchase Register in the Pennsylvania Archives in Harrisburg as well as an everyname index.  It is used by the archivists to locate early landowners who settled in the "New Purchase" area (see the gray swath on the map above).  In addition to the New Purchase Applicants, the everyname index includes the names of the patentees and neighbors, people who are NOT in the original "Index to Applicants" in the actual ledger. 

 After downloading the pdf file: To locate a name, open the index and then the "Bookmarks" at the left of the page. Click on the letter of the alphabetical section of the register you wish to search and then "page through" the section. Once you have found a name, The numbers following it refer to the number of the New Purchase Application.

Next, open the New Purchase Application Register. Be sure to open the Bookmarks at the left of the .pdf file by clicking on the tab so that you can navigate to the correct numerical section of the file. Each bookmark encompasses a range of 5 pages (approximately 50 applications). If, for example, you wish to see New Purchase Application #650, click on the bookmark for #628 and flip the page forward, or click on #682 and flip the page backward until you find #650. 

 Once the colony or state had divested ownership of the land, the counties became the official guardian of all land transfers from that time forward. Thus, it is imperative for a Pennsylvania researcher to search both deed and mortgage books at the county level as well as the registers mentioned above.

The original applications are available from the Pennsylvania State Archives in Harrisburg.

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New Purchase Register and Index (pdf download)

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