TERRE HAUTE — Last week I wrote about the Homestead Act of 1862 and the role it played in opening up the Midwest and the Far West to settlement. This week we will discuss the records generated from the Homestead Act and other acts that gave or sold public lands to settlers. These records are called Land Entry Files and they are kept in the General Land Office, a part of the Bureau of Land Management.
The land application process was threefold: first the homesteader filed an application with the local land office, then had to live on the land for five years and make certain improvements, and finally could apply for a deed of title of ownership, called a land patent. (Patents refer to land obtained directly from the government, as opposed to land bought from another person or entity, which is a deed).
On the government forms, an applicant for land was referred to as an “entryman.” Upon registering an application for land, a “land entry case file” was opened, containing the homestead application and any supporting documents, such as the declaration of intent and naturalization papers in the case of aliens, military records, if applicable, and the testimony of witnesses and neighbors that the person was living on the land. Another form in this file would be the “homestead proof,” a document that describes the land, the house, the furniture, the kind of crops, the acreage under cultivation, the date of first residency, itemizes farm equipment, gives the name, age, and post office address of the homesteader, and lists family members also living on the homestead.
After the terms of residency had been met, the “final certificate file” would contain the application for a homestead, a certificate of publication announcing the intention to complete the claim, the final homestead proof, testimony of the homesteader and two witnesses, naturalization papers (if an immigrant), military records (if applicable), and a certificate that authorized a land patent (deed from the government) to be issued. Local land offices sent the completed paperwork to the General Land Office in Washington, D.C., where the files were reviewed and the patent was then issued. A minimal fee was charged for the process.
All of this information is included in the completed “homestead case file.” These files are located in the General Land Office of the Bureau of Land Management. An informative pamphlet titled “Research in the Land Entry Files of the General Land Office (Record Group 49) General Information Leaflet Number 67” discusses these records and how to research them. It can be found at www.archives.gov/publications/general-info-leaflets/67.html. Plats for Illinois and Indiana are located in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Patents for the eastern states are located in the BLM-EOS office in Springfield, Va. Also visit the Bureau of Land Management Web site at www.glorecords.
blm.gov. The searchable database there will allow you to see if your ancestor received a patent for public land.
Land entry case files for the Homestead Act are dated from 1863 to 1908. More than 1.6 million individuals’ applications were processed to receive land through the Homestead Act.
Announcement
• The Wabash Valley Genealogy Society will sponsor a computer class this coming Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon, in the computer lab at the main branch of the Vigo County Public Library. Anyone who is interested in learning how to better use a computer to assist in family research is invited to attend.
History
Genealogy: Land Entry Files kept in General Land Office
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