Most warrants were issued from Lancaster city during this time of the colonial period. The warrant document designated the county, township, the person to whom the warrant was issued, the approximate acreage, and the date of issue. The earliest warrants give a general description of the land location. Later warrants give increasingly greater and more accurate detail of the property, including contiguous neighbors. Usually the survey followed the issuing of a warrant.
Surveys give graphic representation to the land within the designated boundaries.
Early county roads are approximately located on some surveys. It was always issued at the owner's initiative. When, and under what circumstances a family applied for a Patent varied widely. Some Patents were granted at almost the same time as the warrant survey in the Eighteenth Century. Other families delayed applying for a Patent until the mid 1870's, more than one hundred years after the first warrant and survey had been conducted.