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Homestead Lands and Amistad, New Mexico, southwest United States
Reverend Henry S. Wannamaker applied for his own 160 acres of public lands
in New Mexico under the Homestead Act of 1862. Mr. Wannamaker was a
Congregational minister who, in addition to his own homested, also
established the community of "Amistad", in northeast New Mexico, in 1906.
Reverend Wannamaker encouraged other religious persons to homestead in the
area by placing ads in religious periodicals extolling the Amistad area.
Methodists, Presbyterians, United Brethren and others answered his ads,
and some decided to homestead with him.
But his application came when almost all of the land had already been
awarded. What was left was arid land in Arizona and in New Mexico.
It could have been that he chose his acres in New Mexico, because the
Rock Island Railroad ran nearby.
While he and others were improving their land, only a few years later,
a young United Brethern minister from Kansas
named Reverend Clarence Schlotterbeck arrived in the area to visit his
parents. He visited Amistad and Hayden. His decision was to set about
opening missions in the area. Among his projects were the creation of
several schools--in Velarde, Santa Cruz, and other New Mexico places.
But success at homesteading was not to be for most of the families who
homesteaded in the Amistad and Hayden area. By 1908, land available to homestead was
largely gone. In the Amistead area, neither the land nor the climate were
favorable. The pioneer life style demanded many hard decisions that most
of these homesteaders weren't prepared to face. Many of these families
gradually abandoned their acreage. Yet, overall, the Homestead Act did
result in populating the American West.
The Homestead Act
The passage of the Homestead Act by Congress in 1862 was the
culmination of more than 70 years of controversy over the disposition of
public lands. From the inception of the United States there was a clamor
for ever-increasing liberalism in the disposition of these public lands.
From 1830 onward, groups called for free distribution of public lands in
the west. The platform of the Free-Soil party, which saw such distribution
as a means of stopping the spread of slavery into the territories, was
subsequently adopted by the Republican party in its 1860 platform. The
Southern states had been the most vociferous opponents of the policy, and
their secession cleared the way for its adoption.
The Act, which became law on January 1, 1863, allowed anyone to file
for a quarter-section of free land (160 acres). The land was the applicants
at the end of five years if his family had built a house on it, dug a well,
broken (plowed) 10 acres, fenced a specified amount, and actually lived there.
Additionally, one could claim a quarter-section of land by "timber
culture" (commonly called a "tree claim"). This required the planting and
successful cultivation of 10 acres of timber.
The Homesteaders
New arrivals to the U.S. and landless citizens were obvious candidates
for the homestead lands. Most applications were not established farmers,
but more likely his children or grandchildren who wanted a place of their
own where none was for sale.
Homesteading families included some who came from Norway, Germany and
Finland. Some homesteaders were not farmers at all, but in effect land
speculators. They would apply for a homestead in an arid area, mortgage it
with an insurance company which loaned him a little more each year, and as
soon as the land "proved up" and received a "final certificate", it
would be turned over to the insurance company and the speculator would
move on. Insurance companies often acquired large tracts of land this way.
Although the Homestead Act remained in effect, with modifications, until
repealed in 1977, the Act was not entirely successful. The best lands
soon came under the control of the railroads and the speculators, forcing
settlers to buy from them rather than accept the poorer government lands.
Even so, by 1900 about 600,000 farmers had received clear title under the
Act to 80 million acres of farm and ranch land.
States or territories affected by the Act, in addition to New Mexico,
included Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Dakotas,
Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan,
Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma,
Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Laws that opened up the American West
The Pre-emption Act of 1841 pleased those settlers who had established
themselves illegally on land ahead of government surveyors. When the
surrounding land was eventually surveyed and made ready for public sale,
the "squatter" had the right to appear at the local land office and
purchase up to 160 acres of their illegal holdings for $1.25 per acre to
"pre-empt" or prevent any subsequent claims. The settler had to
show proof of a dwelling and improvements to the land. The Pre-emption Act,
repealed in 1891, legalized early pioneer settlement on unsurveyed lands,
and recognized squatting as a legitimate means of establishing a homestead.
In 1862, the United States Congress enacted a series of laws that totally
transformed the American West:
Land grants were given to the four transcontinental railroads to
extend rail transportation from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
The Homestead Act was adopted, offering free land to anyone willing to
live on the land for five years and improve it.
Native American peoples were removed from open land to reservations,
opening up the west to white settlement.
Thirteen new territories, including New Mexico Territory, were admitted
to the union.
Land grants were given to each state and territory to establish
agricultural colleges to encourage productive farming.
The Homestead Act of 1862 offered 160 acres of land (80 acres within the
railroad grant areas) free to any head of family or person over 21 years of
age who was a citizen of the United States or who had filed a declaration
of intent to become a citizen in exchange for simply residing on the land
for five years and improving it. Quarter sections of land were distributed
free, provided the property was lived on and worked for five years.
There was also an option to purchase the land after six months of
residency for $1.25 per acre. Originally, the Homestead Act applied to
surveyed land, but in 1880 it was extended to include unsurveyed land.
Railroads spearheaded the onslaught of landseekers, bringing trainloads of
homesteaders into the heart of the Western frontier.
The Timber Culture Act of 1873 was another law that encouraged
homesteading and the planting of trees in the west. If a settler planted 40
acres of timber (reduced to 10 acres in 1878) and fostered their growth for
10 years, the individual was entitled to that quarter section of land. The
Timber Culture Act also permitted homesteaders who occupied their land for
three years, with one acre of trees under cultivation for two of those
three years, to receive a patent to the land. The law was eventually
repealed in 1882.
The Desert Land Act of 1877 was designed to foster settlement of
the arid and semi-arid regions of the west, specifically in Arizona,
California, the Dakotas, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah,
Washington, and Wyoming. The Act allowed anyone to purchase 640 acres of
land for 25 cents per acre if the land was irrigated within three years of
filing. A rancher could receive title to the land any time within the three
years upon proof of compliance with the law and payment of one additional
dollar per acre.
Homestead Land Entry Papers
The official records by which the United States government transferred
land to individuals, either by sale or by grant, were called "land entry"
papers, and the document that guaranteed title to such land was called a
"patent".
An applicant for a homestead was called an "entryman" and the
initial documents included in the homestead files of pioneers were
contained in a "land-entry case file". The land-entry case file contained
the entryman's homestead application, declaration of intent, supporting
documents, testimony of witnesses, bounty land warrants (if used in lieu of
cash), and naturalization papers, if needed. Land-entry case files are
dated from 1863 to June, 1908.
The testimony of a claimant on a "homestead proof" which gives a
description of the land, the name, age, and post office address of the
claimant, describes the house, gives the date when residence was
established, lists the number and relationship of family members, and
explains the nature of crops and number of acres under cultivation.
Homestead Final Certificate Files
A homestead "final certificate file" includes the homestead
application, certificate of publication of intention to complete the claim,
final proof of the homestead, including the testimony of the claimant and
two witnesses, a certified copy of any naturalization papers, if needed,
and a final certificate authorizing the issuance of a "patent" transferring
the land from the federal government to the private individual.
The "final proof certificate" gives the claimant's name, age, post
office address, citizenship, dates the establishment of residence, gives
the number and relationship of family members, and describes the location
of the tract of land with a description of the house, furniture, the type
of crops planted, the number of acres under cultivation, lists farm
machinery and tools, includes the testimony of the claimant and two
witnesses, usually nearby neighbors, and records the date that the patent
was issued, including volume and page number of the recorded copy of the
patent in the Bureau of Land Management or in the National Archives.
A complete "homestead case file" includes the homestead
application, the certificate of publication intention to make a claim, the
homestead proof, consisting of the testimony of the claimant and two
witnesses, the final certificate authorizing the claimant to obtain a
patent, and, when appropriate, a copy of the naturalization proceedings or
a copy of a Union veteran's discharge certificate.