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The first step to finding homestead applications and related papers is to obtain the legal description of the land for which the homesteader applied. | The first step to finding homestead applications and related papers is to obtain the legal description of the land for which the homesteader applied. | ||
*'''Obtaining the Legal Land Description of Completed Homesteads'''''<b>.</b>'' The BLM-GLO [http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/ ][http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/ Land Patent Search] index '''only''' lists people who were actually granted a federal land patent (homestead or other government-to-individual land transfer).<ref>United States, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, “Land Patent Search” at http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/ (accessed 5 February 2010).</ref> If you find an ancestor in this index, it will provide the legal description of his or her land. | *'''Obtaining the Legal Land Description of Completed Homesteads'''''<b>.</b>'' The BLM-GLO [http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/][http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/ Land Patent Search] index '''only''' lists people who were actually granted a federal land patent (homestead or other government-to-individual land transfer).<ref>United States, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, “Land Patent Search” at http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/ (accessed 5 February 2010).</ref> If you find an ancestor in this index, it will provide the legal description of his or her land. | ||
*'''Obtaining the Legal Land Description of Incomplete Applications'''''<b>.</b>'' The 60 percent of homesteaders who never obtained a patent because they did not finish are '''not''' in the Land Patent Search, but they '''are''' in the application papers. It is possible to get copies of unfinished applications from the[http://www.archives.gov/research/land/ingalls/index.html National Archives.] However, to see such application papers you must figure out another way to obtain the legal description of the land they started to homestead. | *'''Obtaining the Legal Land Description of Incomplete Applications'''''<b>.</b>'' The 60 percent of homesteaders who never obtained a patent because they did not finish are '''not''' in the Land Patent Search, but they '''are''' in the application papers. It is possible to get copies of unfinished applications from the[http://www.archives.gov/research/land/ingalls/index.html National Archives.] However, to see such application papers you must figure out another way to obtain the legal description of the land they started to homestead. | ||