Series 30348
Provo (Utah). Mayor City lot filing records
Dates: 1868-1873.
0.20 cubic foot
These records are housed in the Utah State Archives' permanent storage room.
Scope and Content
This series contains various records associated with property claims in Provo City. Land in Utah had been allocated and bought and sold since the beginning of European settlement, but for two decades no system had been established to gain legal title to property from the federal government. In 1867, as a remedy for the situation, Congress passed "An Act for the Relief of the Inhabitants of Cities and Towns upon the Public Lands" (Statutes at Large, Treaties, and Proclamations, of the United States of America, vol. 14, chap. 177). The act provided that officials of incorporated towns should enter town site lands at the federal land office in Salt Lake City and purchase them in trust for the inhabitants. In accordance with the provisions of the law, the Utah Territorial Legislature adopted a law dictating that the mayor of the town give public notice and advertise the land he had entered. Persons claiming ownership of land within the town had six months to file a claim with the Probate Court. If the court determined a claim to be valid, it would certify that to the mayor, who would then issue a deed to the claimant. The records in this series document deeds issued by Mayor Abraham O. Smoot and the filing fees paid by claimants.
The records include lists of claimants, along with the property they claimed and the filing fee they paid. They also contain a record of what money claimants owed and when it was paid, as well as a list of blocks and lots in the city and who the probate court had adjudged to be the rightful claimant for each lot.
Many of the records in this series may have been created by city recorder L. John Nuttall, but since the the mayor was responsible for the process of providing deeds, this series has been placed under the mayor.
Access Restrictions
This series is designated as Public: Utah Code 63G-2-310 (2008)..
Reproduction and Use
These records are available for reproduction and use.
| BOX | FOLDER | DESCRIPTION |
| 1 | 1 | List of Persons who have had Lots Surveyed By Jesse W. Fox, April 1868 |
| 1 | 2 | Amounts Paid on Entry of Provo City, May 17th 1869 |
| 1 | 3 | Lists of claimants, lots, and fees |
| 1 | 4 | Account book |
| 1 | 5 | Miscellaneous |