Location in homestead records

By ancestrywithtaylor on Wed, 01/24/2024 - 14:09

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Hi! I'm uncertain about which location to cite for homestead records. Dennie submitted his application for land in Oklahoma Territory. By the time he "proved up," the area was part of Kiowa County. Shortly thereafter, it became Tillman County. Which do you think is most appropriate?

Dennie McCorcle (Oklahoma Territory, Kiowa, or Tillman County?) homestead file, final certificate no. 02623, Lawton, Oklahoma; Land Entry Papers, 1800-1908; Record Group 49: Records of the Bureau of Land Management; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Submitted byEEon Wed, 01/24/2024 - 17:46

Hello, Ancestrywithtaylor.  This is such a common problem with historical records, as boundaries shifted and jurisdictions were renamed.

Following EE 11.2 for cash-entry and credit-under land files, the location that the citation places in parentheses is the location at the time each man created that land file. 

In your case, you'll note that the patent finally issued to McCorcle, downloadable from the GLO-BLM website, cites no "county" location at all.

And, yes, you would also want to note, somewhere, the change of name. That can matter. As an example, I have a 1749 Virginia land patent for one "William Mills of Goochland County." That land in 1749 lay in Albemarle Couty, which had been cut from Goochland in 1744.  The patent reflected the information that Mills gave at the time he applied for the land. The two different locale names tell me that, even though the patent was not issued until 1749, he applied for it before the act of 1744 that split the counties.