Homesteaders in Whitmore recorded their patents, also known as deeds, with the Land Office.

Before July 1, 1908, patents were entered into large bound books, and identified by state or territory, land office, volume number, and page. A patent issued before July 1, 1908, is identified by the final certificate number entered in the book.

Tract books are ledgers once maintained by the General Land Office, then the Bureau of Land Management, to record the transfer of ownership of public lands. Begun in 1800, these books note sales, leases, withdrawals, and other land actions. The information let federal land officials determine the status of lands and minerals.

A serial register page is an abstract of a record entered into one of these books. It gives you the name of the person, the law under which entry was made, the description of the land entered, when entry was made, all major actions affecting the entry, and the final disposition of the case. They began serial register pages in 1908. They were arranged by each land office and each application. They gave the entry for land a number beginning with a zero, (e.g., Sacramento 06xxx).

Explanation of the homestead entries
Information about the list (spellling as it appeared on the original document):
Last name and first name are obvious.
Application type:

Cash, or CE: Land sold for cash.
HA or HE or Homestead Act Entry: For Whitmore, the Homestead Act of 1862.
IL, IS, LS: Indemnity or In Lieu.
LRCE: Timber and Stone.
PS: Public Sale.
SOLADDL: Soldiers Additional.
SS: School Site.
TA or TL: Timber land application.
TLC or TLCE: Timberland cash sale entry.

Date of sale:
Date the person filed their first claim. Sometimes they had been living on the land several years before the law went into effect. If they could prove this, then the date of sale could be dated to the earlier date.

Date of patent:
Date the title passed from the United States to the individual named on the document. A patent is a deed.

Acres:
This could be up to one-hundred-sixty acres. Occasionally the surveyors made an error, and the property was a little larger or smaller.

Cost:
This is the cost per acre.

Comments:
The comments provide explanations about the homestead actions. The names in this column usually refer to the person who received the deed. USLO = United States Land Office.

Canceled or Can:
The government could cancel a filing if the filer did not follow a law, regulation, or the time limit. The usual reasons were abandonment, illegally cutting timber, failure to cultivate an entry, or insufficient residence. Either the government or a third party (a contest) could start an action to cancel.

Relinquishment:
When someone voluntarily surrendered their land. They would file a formal document and the land then reverted to the United States and was available to entry by someone else. It was a common practice for individuals to sell relinquishments, but the Land Department generally did not recognize such sales.

Abandonment:
Meant that a person who made entry under one of the public land laws had left the land without taking any action to comply with the law or had not notified the government of such action. Some homesteaders abandoned their original homestead to file for one with better land or water.

Homesteaders (Several examples)

Last Name, First Name, App. Type, Date of Sale, Date of Patent, Acres, $Cost/Acre, Comments
Aldridge, Ethan A., HE, June 4, 1895, August 15, 1901, 160, $2.50, Pat del to Lafe Holmes at Redding
Aldridge, Alexander, TLCE, June 30, 1900, Nov 2, 1906, 160, $2.50
. . . etc.

If you have a deed, the Presidents did sign patents prior to 1836. However, in 1836, Congress authorized a "secretary" to sign for the President after that time. "This fact comes as a great disappointment to many people who think they have a signature of one of the Presidents on their patent."

The presidents up to 1836 were: Washington; Adams; Jefferson; Madison; Monroe; Adams; and Jackson.

Return to the home page