Another way to acquire land that would be yours to settle on when you had little to no money in the United States was to serve in the War, usually as a soldier although other forms of service to your country were consider. Bounty Land Grants were awarded for three wars.
The Revolutionary, The War of 1812, and the Mexican - American War.
The story goes that General George Washington did not have enough money to pay soldiers. From our American History study, we know that many a poor person signed up and there was not enough money to even uniform all these soldiers. We learn of the men who almost froze to death waiting orders. So an agreement was, if a soldier survived and the war was won, then that soldier would be given land in exchange for his service.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES (NARA) in Washington, DC is the holder of these documents. They can be requested on NATF form 85 which is called Military Pension/Bounty Land Warrant Applications. NATIONAL ARVHIVES GOV _ APPLICATION FOR BOUNTY LAND WARRANTS
As with other early American documents, the soldier would need to provide proof of his service and that sometimes meant written testimonials.
Widows could apply if their husband had not while he was alive.
In September of 1776, the new country's Congress put through the agreement officially and applications could be made through about 1858 - there was an extension to 1863.
Of course, you have to lean on other documents that prove the ancestor was in service of the United States before you fill out that form.
The National Archives of the United States is the keeper of our American History documents, and from it the various genealogy databases get their information. Don't discount going to the source, especially if you do not wish to pay for special databases. It's always worth going to your local public library to see what electronic resources they have for free and sometimes they do have genealogy databases - at least "library editions" - loaded for your use.
The National Archives site can be intimidating. It is thorough though and if you register as a user you can email experts for some advice.
This post is part of a series. To pull up the series, click on the tag Help - Homestead Act - AWG
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