French & Spanish Land Grants
The French and Spanish governments ruled the St. Louis area before the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Both the French and Spanish governors provided land grants to the early settlers. The 1838 Dupré Atlas outlines the grants.
This index provides the name of the grantee and the book and page number of the recording. Many of these property owners had to defend their claim with the Board of Land Commissioners in St. Louis. Of the claims heard, about seventy percent were denied. The French and Spanish land grants are available on microfilm as part of the Missouri Digital Heritage at the Missouri State Archives and in the History and Genealogy Department at St. Louis County Library Headquarters.
Missouri State Archives originally compiled this list, and it was prepared for StLGS by Mary Berthold. The index first appeared in the 1975 St. Louis Genealogical Society Quarterly, volume 8, number 3, pages 53–68.
American State Papers, Volume. 8, Public Lands. Greenville, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1994.
Atlas of the City and County of St. Louis by Congressional Townships. St. Louis: E. Dupré Lithographer, 1838. [This book is commonly called the Dupré Atlas.]
St. Louis Genealogical Society. Index to the Minutes of the First and Second Board of Land Commissioners, Missouri, 1805–1812, 1832–1835. St. Louis: St. Louis Genealogical Society, 1983.