Land Grants Under
the Homestead Act of 1862
Land Grants Under the Homestead Act of 1862
This most helpful genealogy resource states in part that any person who is the head of a family or who served in the Navy or Army of the United States of America is eligible to file for land in the public domain. One could apply for 160 acres at a cost of $1.25 per acre.
It appears that this act was for those who served in the Union side of the U.S. Civil War since the act states that the applicant shall not have borne arms against the United States.
I obtained a copy of this act from a law student. I also obtained the actual Homestead Certificate of my ancestors from a Missouri realtor. Since the certificate contained actual plot information for boundary markings, I then wrote the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, 7450 Boston Boulevard, Springfield, Virginia 22153. Telephone:
(703) 440-1607
That agency wrote to inform me that the case file (actual application) was available for $6.00 from the National Archives Trust Fund, P. O Box 100793, Atlanta, Ga. 30384-0793. I found that my great-granddad was granted land under this act, and now I'm getting from the Dept. of Interior the actual application that he filed in 1888.
According to this agency, it takes 10-12 weeks to get photo copies of the actual application information. Perhaps one's U.S. Representative or Senator could shorten this response time.
FOLLOW-UP:
The actual questionnaires for both the claimant and the witnesses were received by the member. The questions for each questionnaire are included in documents that you can read and print. Simply click on either or both of the links below.
- Claimant Form
- Witness Form
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