[or-roots] Donation land claim/ homestead

[Leslie Chapman]

Okay, I had pasted a detailed explanation of Donation Land Claims in here
and then found this much simpler comparison at the archives;

those who are looking for Clackamas county info are encouraged to go to this
link;

http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/county/cpclack/cpclackfed.html

as I believe you will find much help there.

One BUMMER note, the Federal site for looking up homestead/donation land
claim info is still closed to the public!

Federal Land Grant Records
1850-1960

Series records ownership of county lands obtained from the federal
government. Series includes records of land grants administered under a
variety of federal programs such as donation land claims and homesteads.
Donation land claims are the most common type of federal land grant in
Oregon that is documented in this inventory project. Donation land claims
resulted from an act of the 1850 Congress under which citizens of the United
States, or those who filed a declaration of intention prior to December 1,
1850 and had resided upon or cultivated the land for four consecutive years,
were granted a specified amount of acreage in the Oregon Territory. Donation
land claims were unique in that acreage granted to married couples was
divided evenly. Half of the acreage was placed in the husband's name while
the other half was placed in the wife's name. Records include plats,
indexes, and survey notes. Information includes township, range, and section
numbers, names of donation land claim holders and claim numbers, claim
dates, acreage, and descriptions of surveys.

Under the Homestead Act of 1862, settlers were given 160 acres of land in
the public domain if they built a home on the land, resided there for five
years, and cultivated the land. A complete homestead entry file includes
such documents as the homestead application, homestead proof, and final
certificate authorizing the claimant to obtain a land patent.


For anyone wanting to see the detailed explanation of Donation Land Claims;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donation_Land_Claim_Act_of_1850

Here is another site that appears to be a catch all, it includes help for
deciphering the gobbleydigook we surveyors use to describe a parcel of land,
if anyone still has trouble with that incidentally feel free to send me the
description and I can explain it to you.

http://www.usgennet.org/alhnorus/ahorclak/land.html

The person posting this page has reaally done a great job, it will give
folks looking for Claims info a lot of leads, probably more than you can
deal with.

Les c

--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.11.9/118 - Release Date: 10/3/2005