Before peanuts
As a young man, botanist George Washington Carver, famous for his research on peanuts, claimed 160 acres of land under the Homestead Act near the town of Beelerville,...
Building a little house on the prairie
This 1884 document records the sworn statements of Almanzo Wilder that he had built a “12 ft. square frame” house in the Dakota Territory and was cultivating the...
Free land in the land of the free
President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act on May 20, 1862. On January 1, 1863, Daniel Freeman made the first claim under the Act, which gave citizens or...
Homestead certificate for Daniel Freeman
Daniel Freeman was the first American to file a homestead claim for land under the Homestead Act of 1862. The act required a series of steps, such as improving a plot...
Homestead proof for Virgil Walter Earp
Virgil Earp, the brother of famous lawman Wyatt Earp, followed his family West in the 1860s after his service with the Union Army during the Civil War. He...
Journey to a homestead
A family pauses on their journey to a homestead to pose for a picture in Loup Valley, Nebraska, in 1866. The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed a citizen to claim up to...
Proving up
Effective June 17, 1887, Almanzo Wilder received a patent granting him title to 160 acres. This certificate demonstrates that Wilder and his wife Laura Ingalls,...