Nebraska, Homestead Records from Nebraska City and Lincoln Land Offices - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Nebraska

	This article describes a collection of historical records scheduled to become available at FamilySearch.org.
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Collection Time Period

Records from this collection encompass the years 1863-1908.

What is in the Collection?

This collection includes homestead entry case files and land entry case files from the Bureau of Land Management. The records are arranged by final certificate number. The homestead entry case files include documents required to qualify for a homestead, such as:

• Applications
• Petitions
• Affidavits

Many immigrants also included their naturalization certificates with their application.

Collection Contents

• United States Homestead Record Examples
• Nebraska Lincoln Land Office United States Homestead Records (09-0176) Application DGS 4568014.jpg
• Nebraska Lincoln Land Office United States Homestead Records (09-0176) Proof DGS 4568014 14-15.jpg
• Nebraska Lincoln Land Office United States Homestead Records (09-0176) Final Certificate DGS 4571528.jpg

Key genealogical facts found in most final certificates and homestead patents include:

• Date
• Application and final certificate numbers
• Name of applicant
• Description and location of land

How Do I Search the Collection?

When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details and lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family.

For example:

• Use the name, location and date to find the family in census records.
• Use the description and location of land to find the family in land records.
• Use the description and location of land to find the family in probate records.

If you are unable to find the ancestors you are looking for, check for nearby land owners with similar or variant spellings of the surnames.

Record History

The Homestead Act of 1862 was signed into law after the secession of many Southern states from the Union.

Why the Record Was Created

The Homestead Act allowed for settlement of land in unpopulated areas. It established a land acquisition process that required filing an application, improving the land, and filing for the deed of title. Any citizen or intended citizen could file an application for 160 acres of land, as long as they had never fought against the U.S. Government. Homesteaders had 5 years to build on, farm, and improve the land. After five years, a homeowner could file for a land patent or deed at a local land office. The local land offices forwarded the documentation to the General Land Office in Washington D.C. with a final certificate of eligibility.

Claimants paid $1.25 an acre. Service in the Union Army was counted towards the residency requirement after the Civil War. Not all homesteaders were able to qualify for ownership of the land due to harsh soil and weather conditions. Once the railroads were in place, homesteading increased due to the ease of travel.

Record Reliability

Information in these records is usually reliable but depends upon the reliability of the informant.

Related Websites

Nebraska Land Records

Related Wiki Articles

• Nebraska Genealogy
• Nebraska Land and Property
• Nebraska, Broken Bow Homestead Records (FamilySearch Historical Records)
• Homestead Records

How You Can Contribute

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Citing this Collection

When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information; that is, cite your sources. This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually.

Collection Citation

Collection Citation: The citation for this collection can be found on the Collection Details Page in the section Cite This Collection.

Image Citation
This template has been deprecated and is no longer used.

The image citation will be available once the collection is published.

DGS stands for Digital Genealogical Society also known as an Image Group Number. Each set of digital images is assigned a DGS number for identification purposes.