State Tax Land Deed Issued by Auditor General John Swegles for Land in Ionia County, Michigan
Cartographer / Artist: George W. Peck, Printer to the State / State of Michigan
Date Created: 1854
Medium: Letterpress printed legal document on blue wove paper with manuscript ink completions and signatures
Physical Dimensions: 16.0 × 12.0 inches
Geographic Scope: Ionia County, Michigan, United States
Archive Catalog ID: fp3-img-1610
Provenance: The Dr. Joseph R. Rubini Archive
Collection: Michigan
This official mid-19th-century State Tax Land Deed, dated January 23, 1854, records the sale and transfer of land in Ionia County, Michigan, from the State of Michigan to William F. Jenison of Eagle, Michigan. Authorized by Auditor General John Swegles, the indenture conveys title to real estate previously bid off to the state for delinquent taxes assessed in the tax year 1848. The real property is formally defined using the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) as the 'North East fraction of North East Quarter of Section Five in Town Five North of Range Five West,' totaling approximately 11.83 acres. The bottom register features financial accounting acknowledgments from the State Treasurer's Office in Lansing, along with formal attestation by an Ingham County Notary Public. Printed by George W. Peck, official printer to the state, the broadside deed exhibits exemplary mid-19th-century American administrative typography. It combines elaborate blackletter and display serif headings with standard letterpress body text, accompanied by original iron-gall manuscript entries, official signatures, and a printed decorative seal mark.
Condition: Prominent original mailing/filing folds with small punctures and minor separation at the central fold intersections.. Uniform gentle aging and light surface soiling consistent with mid-19th-century administrative ephemera on blue-tinted paper.. Dark manuscript ink remains sharp, clear, and highly legible.

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