THE HOMESTEAD ACT OF 1862 PROVIDED 160 ACRES OF LAND #1 THE HISTORY OF LAND GRANTS FOR HOMESTEADING

You've probably heard "40 acres and a mule" is an ideal family farmstead, but consider that 160 acres of land provided that the family might be able to divide that up as children grew to maturity and another generation or two could live there. But then what?  For a small filing fee, even a freed slave could apply to homestead land.  An immigrant who was not yet an American citizen could apply and get land.  And, though women's liberation (Feminism) was the cause of few, you could apply as a woman. If there's a chance that one of your American ancestors claimed land and that can be a very interesting thing to add to your family history research project.

THE HOMESTEAD ACT of 1862 REMAINED IN PLACE FOR THE NEXT 124 YEARS and 270 million acres were claimed and settled, which turns out to be about 10% of the United States. (You could still homestead in Alaska for another decade.)

Most of the land was "unsettled" such as in the prairie lands, though today we know that notions that "nobody" lived in these places is often not correct because Native American did live there.

New settlers had to live on the land they wanted for a continuous five years and improve it.  For some this was living off the land and living in an underground house until an above ground house could be built. Cutting down trees or tilling soil could be considered an improvement.

Today I think of the modern Tiny House movement because families back in the day often lived in a house that was basically one room. Today, we seriously question if displacing people so that gentrification can take place is socially responsible behavior.

HISTORY COM - Homestead Act Basics

NATIONAL ARCHIVES GOV - HOMESTEAD ACT including some documents

Next post I'll tell you how to find these documents.

This post is part of a series.  To pull up the series, click on the tag Help - Land Grants- AWG

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image is from Graphics Fairy

THE WAR OF 1812 DVD : ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY FILM REVIEW

THE WAR OF 1812 DVD :  ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY FILM REVIEW

Watching this film, I realized that I knew a lot about the American Revolution and the Civil War but near nothing about the War of 1812, when the British tried to take back some or all of the 30-year-old United States. The British were most interested in the seaports and the Mississippi River, which they could use to link their territory in Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

Here are some of the highlights of this film from History Channel.

DOLLY MADISON - WASHINGTON D.C.

Dolly Madison, the First Lady, was beloved by Americans.  Her outgoing nature was a balance to that of her husband, President James Madison, who was more intellectual. She was the last hold out in the White House when the British troops were advancing on Washington. She'd been warned to leave but she and a servant remained. She ordered that servant to break the frame of the painting of George Washington, roll up the canvas, and take it with them! When the troops got to the White House they found a gourmet meal left out for them. They feasted, they looted, and took all that had been left, including the love letters between Dolly and the President. Then the British threw lit torches through the windows and the White House burned to the ground. 

Oddly, a hurricane struck Washington D.C. soon after and if that were not enough a tornado struck.  This weather scared the British troops away and some people think God was behind it.

BALTMORE - SAVING THE HARBOR

In order to prevent the British from getting near the city by harbor, citizens sunk a row of merchant boats to block the harbor. It worked.  The British had to go around another way. American troops quickly built an earthen fort. From the water the British used the most powerful weapon technology provided at the time which was 500-pound cannon balls. They were firing these cannon balls into the fort from their ships. The fort contained a massive amount of gun powder and one of these balls made it right to the place in the fort where the gun powder was stored. 

By some miracle that particular cannon ball was a dud, and the fort didn't blow up!

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER WAS WRITTEN by FRANCIS SCOTT KEY

I thought this song was written for the American Revolution, but the fact is the songwriter began to write the song while watching the battle for Baltimore from a British ship in the harbor where he was held captive. Two massive American flags that could be seen from that far were waving.  The flags had been commissioned and handsewn by women. He wrote the first two lines aboard. When he was released, he wrote the rest. It was set to a popular beer drinking song and published in small papers around the country.

NEW ORLEANS - THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

Because communications in those days was so slow, troops didn't know that there had actually been a truce signed in Belgium.  So the Battle of New Orleans went on anyway. Here is where Andew Jackson, a southern frontier boy who'd been orphaned, triumphed.  The heroic leader of an assembly of troops, some standard army, some volunteers from as far away as Kentucky, and one troop that included the pirate Jean LaFitte and other outlaws, fought their hardest. The United States lost about 13 souls - the British 2000.

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THE PLAGUE : ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY FILM REVIEW

THE PLAGUE : ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY FILM REVIEW

ONE THIRD of Europe's population was wiped out when the Plague (otherwise known as the Black Plague) was through killing people off, and the Jews were made scapegoats in some locations.

This DVD by History Channel is excellent. It has a bit of focus on the personal physician of the Pope of those times, a physician who did catch a dose but lived, after refusing to stop doctoring even as so many other doctors ran for their own lives.

Watching it I'm reminded that religious hysteria and scapegoating can go together.

I'm reminded that many of us of European ancestry are descended from those who escaped or survived the Plague, though I don't know if that means we have immunity. (Maybe there will always be a new disease to conquer?)

I'm also reminded of the fear we have in 2012 of biological warfare and the emphasis on end times.

I can say this: I have no fear that the world will end in December of this year. The Mayan calendar is round - a wheel - and I believe it's a wheel that can be given another twirl. However, I meet so many people who are invested in End Times and it's always possible that some humans will cause there to be exceptional times out of fervor and expectation. I hope not.  I hope this too shall pass.

I plan to live through the year because with the 1940 census out, even with all the help of databases, it will take a while for me to document hundreds of people I expect to find on it. (As a matter of fact I have to live many more years because I want to be here for the 1950!)

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HILLBILLY THE REAL STORY - BILLY RAY CYRUS : ANCESTRY WORSHIP FILM REVIEW

Watched HILLBILLY "the Real story" on the History Channel DVD, produced by Moore Huntley Productions, this weekend. Anyone interested in American History of the Appalachian region (the founding of the Wautauga Colony for instance), anyone with "Scotch-Irish" ancestry, anyone interested in moonshine making or marijuana growing, is going to find this one interesting.

Aimed at giving credit where it's due and erasing stereotypes where applicable, this one is definitely worth the time watching !