The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) inherited the functions of the General Land Office when it was established by Congress in 1946. The Wisconsin Land Patents Database, derived from General Land Office and BLM information, contains deeds (primarily patents) issued by the United States in the region now known as the State of Wisconsin between 1807 and 1907. While BLM has been referred to as "the Nations record keeper", it is the National Archives that actually keeps the files. The BLM, maintains diagrammatic plats known as Master Title Plats, which depict lands which are owned by the United States and lands which are patented. However, these plats do not have any information about who the lands were patented to. That information which has only been available after tedious research, it is available now in this database.

The Wisconsin Land Patents Database contains the following information for each land transaction: date, location (township, range, section), name of person the land was patented to, county, date, and the patent document identification number.

All of the twps and ranges in WI are measured from the 4th Principal Meridian.

WI Land Offices

01 Ashland
02 Bayfield
03 Eau Claire
04 Falls St. Croix
05 Green Bay
06 Hudson
07 La Crosse
08 Menasha
09 Milwaukee
10 Mineral Point
11 Muskaday
12 Stevens Point
13 Superior
14 Wausau
15 Willow River
16 Wisconsin