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After the Civil War many African Americans took advantage of the Homestead Act to obtain almost free federal land in return for occupying and improving it. The application papers for this federal farm, mining, or timber land contain genealogical information and clues. Only about 40 percent of people who applied for homestead land finished the process and received the land patent. Those that finished have been indexed. The homestead index is available on the Internet. For more details see the Wiki article [[Land Patent Search|Land Patent Search]]. | After the Civil War many African Americans took advantage of the Homestead Act to obtain almost free federal land in return for occupying and improving it. The application papers for this federal farm, mining, or timber land contain genealogical information and clues. Only about 40 percent of people who applied for homestead land finished the process and received the land patent. Those that finished have been indexed. The homestead index is available on the Internet. For more details see the Wiki article [[Land Patent Search|Land Patent Search]]. | ||
*[https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/608108 Michael L. Lanza, ''Agrarianism and reconstruction politics : the Southern Homestead Act'' Baton Rouge, Louisiana : Louisiana State University Press, c1990 | *[https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/608108 Michael L. Lanza, ''Agrarianism and reconstruction politics : the Southern Homestead Act'' Baton Rouge, Louisiana : Louisiana State University Press, c1990 FS Library 973 R2lm] Public lands in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, and Florida. | ||
Homestead applications for the 60 percent who never finished are available at the National Archives, but a researcher will need to find the legal description of the land they started to homestead in order to find the application papers. There is no index to homestead applications that were not completed. | Homestead applications for the 60 percent who never finished are available at the National Archives, but a researcher will need to find the legal description of the land they started to homestead in order to find the application papers. There is no index to homestead applications that were not completed. | ||
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