Yeakle, M. M. The City of Saint Louis of To-day: Its Progress and Prospects. Truth in Homely Words and Facts in Faithful Figures . St. Louis: J. Osmun Yeakle and Co, 1889. [format: book], [genre: history; narrative; report]. Permission: St. Louis Mercantile Library
Persistent link to this document: http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/file.php?file=yeakle.html

The titles to the original "Common Fields" of the early Town of St. Louis were derived: First, from the French and Spanish governments, whose titles were afterwards maintained by special Acts of the Congress of the United States at the instance of the municipality of St. Louis, in all to 3837 acres. Secondly, from the City of St. Louis. These lands were sold by the city, and the title conveyed is both undisputed and indisputable. Reference is made to chapter six on the "Common Fields" for a detailed account of these lands.

The Congress of the United States passed an "Act (dated June 12, 1866) authorizing documentary evidence of titles to the owner of lands in the City of St. Louis." Under this act 109 decrees have been issued by the District Court of the United States at St. Louis.

Various acts have been passed by Congress, from time to time, ratifying or confirming claims made under the former acts, and also the claims of individuals to particular tracts.

At the present time, all legal principles regulating claims and titles have been thoroughly settled by the courts, and conflicting claims have been adjusted by compromise or court decisions; and, accordingly, very few spots are any longer in dispute. The facilities for examining land titles with accuracy and dispatch are so complete at St. Louis, that purchasers of property can readily satisfy themselves of the validity of their title should they wish to investigate the work of the abstractor.

The Book of Registry of grants and transfers of lands at the village of St. Louis was called, in French, the Livre Terrien. ^[24]

The "livres terriens," or provincial land records, together with all the documents and papers of the "archives," were handed over by the retiring Spanish Lieut. Governor to Captain Amos Stoddard, U. S. A., who represented the United States at Saint Louis, in March 1804, the date of the "Cession." The number of the documents, etc., exceeded three thousand, many of which remain on deposit with the Recorder at the present day. Books were provided in 1816, in which all these documents were transcribed, and they filled six large volumes.

All papers and documents of record were invariably executed in the presence of the Lieut. Governor of the Province (of Upper Louisiana), or of his official representative, and were deposited in his keeping. They were kept in the French language up to 1770, and afterwards in the Spanish.

An arpent or arpen comprised 192 feet, 6 inches each way, or 37,756 feet square, and about 85.07 of an acre English measure. A league square contained 7,056 arpens.

The term "archives" from the Latin depositorium, originally signified a place of deposit for the safe keeping of official documents, and subsequently included the term "papers," or documents of esteemed value therein deposited.

Here at St. Louis, at the present day, when speaking of the French and Spanish "archives" of the early village,

we apply the term to the books in which a large portion of their early documents were recorded. These were "concessions" or grants of lots and lands, leases, deeds, wills, inventories, powers of attorney, agreements, marriage contracts, and various other documents of a miscellaneous sort relating to persons and things.

Of real and personal property at Saint Louis, in 1811, covered only sixteen pages of ordinary "fool's cap" paper, but in the assessment for the year of 1888, the property required over seventy large books to set it forth.

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