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 Wednesday, May 16, 2012
150th Anniversary of the Homestead Act: Genealogy Resources for Land Records
Posted by Diane
homestead act post
Were your ancestors among the millions who claimed federal lands
under the Homestead Act of 1862?
We're coming up on the 150th
anniversary of this groundbreaking (pun intended) legislation that
accelerated the country's westward expansion. Look for opportunities
to learn more about your homesteading ancestors.
President Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law on May 20, 1862. Beginning Jan. 1, 1863, a homesteader could receive up to
160 acres of public domain land by applying for a claim (which
required a filing fee), improving the land, living on it for five
years, and then filing for a patent.
Anyone who was 21 or older or the head of a family—women, immigrants and freed slaves
included—who'd never taken up arms against the US government could
file an application to claim land.
The first person to claim land under the act was Union Army scout
Daniel Freeman on Jan. 1, 1863. The story is he'd met some officials of the local
land office at a New Year's Eve party and convinced them to open the
office shortly after midnight so he could file his claim before
reporting for duty.
Homesteading ended in 1976 in most of the United States and 1986 in
Alaska. The last claimant under the act applied for
80 acres on Alaska's Stony River and received his deed until 1988.
Only about 40 percent of those who ever filed completed the
application process and received land titles. More than 2
million homesteads were granted, according
to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Between 1862 and 1934, 10 percent of land in the
United States was privatized under the act.
Use these links to research your ancestor's
homesteading experience:
General
Land Office Records Online
The BLM's General Land Office (GLO) was charged with overseeing the
homestead application process. It's free to search for and view more
than 5 million federal land patents issued since 1820. (If your
ancestor applied for a homestead but never received title to his or
her land, there won't be a record here.) You'll also find a
reference center with a land records glossary, FAQ and more.
Using
Land Patents
This free FamilyTreeMagazine.com article has tips for using the GLO
online records website.
Nebraska
Homestead Records
Fold3 is digitizing the National Archives' homestead records for
Nebraska. You can search the collection, which is 39 percent
complete, for free. The files, from the Records of the Bureau of
Land Management, consist of final certificates, applications with
land descriptions, affidavits showing proof of citizenship and more.
And here's a video about the homestead records digitization project.
Homestead
National Monument of America
This national monument near Beatrice, Neb., explains the
Homestead Act and its impact on the United States. Click the
History and Culture link to learn more about the act, see its text,
view maps, "meet" well-known homesteaders and more.
BLM:
Commemorating 150 Years of The Homestead Act
This BLM site has a Homestead Act timeline; videos about historic
homesteads, building a frontier home and more; and a Q&A.
National
Archives: Ingalls Homestead Records
This article from the National Archives' Prologue magazine (Winter 2003 issue) discusses my
favorite homesteaders—the Ingallses and Wilders of Little
House on the Prairie fame—and shows portions of the families'
homestead records.
Family Tree Magazine
resources to help you research your ancestors' land records (whether
federal records such as land entry case files or local records
such as deeds) include:
Fold3 | Genealogy Web Sites | Land records | NARA | Research Tips
Wednesday, May 16, 2012 10:36:46 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00) 
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