Learning About Ancestors Through Homestead Records – An Interview with Katie Merkley

Summary

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Family Tree Magazine Podcast

Episode: Learning About Ancestors Through Homestead Records – An Interview with Katie Merkley

Release Date: September 1, 2025
Host: Lisa Louise Cook (Family Tree Editors)
Guest: Katie Gardner Merkley

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Episode Overview

This episode focuses on the power of homestead records as a tool for genealogical research. Host Lisa Louise Cook interviews genealogy author Katie Merkley about the history of homesteading, the wealth of documentation the process generated, and practical strategies for researchers wishing to uncover details about their ancestors through these records. The conversation provides both historical background and actionable research advice, with references to useful resources and a real-world case study.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Historical Context of Homesteading

[01:36–03:41]

• Purpose of the Homestead Act (1862):

  • Encouraged westward expansion and settlement by offering land to those willing to improve it.

  • Aimed to relieve Eastern overpopulation and prevent the spread of slavery.

    "So this homesteading act was a way to draw settlers out west, relieve overpopulation in the East. And it offered a lot of opportunities."
    — Katie Merkley [01:48]

  • The act stipulated that those who had "not raised arms against the U.S." could qualify.

  • Black Americans were eligible, leading to some historically African American homestead communities.

2. The Homesteading Process and Associated Paperwork

[03:41–05:51]

• The application process:

  • Entailed applying at a land office, paying a fee, and receiving a specific, gridded land allotment (160 acres).

  • The land required improvement (e.g. building a home, farming).

  • After five years (and no more than seven), the applicant needed to 'prove up'—submitting extensive documentation, which included:

    • Naturalization papers for immigrants.
    • Military paperwork for veterans.
    • Affidavits from neighbors and community members.
    • Newspaper publications announcing intended proof of claim.

    "It's not proving the claim is where most of the paperwork is."
    — Katie Merkley [05:37]

3. The Realities and Challenges of Homesteading

[05:51–07:31]

• Completion Rates:

  • Only about 40% completed their homestead claims; many abandoned the effort.

    "So there were a lot of people who abandoned their homesteads and went back east..."
    — Katie Merkley [06:09]

• Challenging Conditions:

  • Farming conditions in the West often posed unexpected difficulties (e.g. rocky soil, droughts, pests).
  • Migrants faced unfamiliar climates and landscapes.

4. Purchase as an Alternative

[07:31–07:56]

• Expedited Land Ownership:

  • Settlers could buy land outright after six months for $1.25 per acre to speed up the process, though paperwork remained a burden.

    "If you're trying to get anything from the government, there's a lot of paperwork involved and it's a hassle."
    — Katie Merkley [07:56]

5. How Homesteading Changed Over Time

[08:17–08:36]

• Duration and Impact:
  • Lasted 123 years, producing an estimated 93 million living descendants.
  • Around 270 million acres and 4 million claims were involved.

6. Research Value of Homestead Records

[08:36–10:34]

• Types of Records and Content:

  • Application/patent paperwork, naturalization records, witness affidavits, questionnaires.

  • Newspapers published notices of claim intentions, which are also archived.

  • Witnesses often included non-related neighbors, providing FAN club (Friends, Associates, Neighbors) information.

    "Witnesses were not supposed to be related, but that rule was not very well enforced."
    — Katie Merkley [10:26]

  • Case study example: Christian Murray's records included a five-page questionnaire and detailed improvement records, but limited direct family details.

7. Where to Find Homestead Records Today

[11:00–12:58]

• Main Resources:

  • Bureau of Land Management (BLM) General Land Office Records: glorecords.blm.gov

    • Searchable by name, state, and county.
    • Includes interactive maps and downloadable surveys.
    • Best starting point for most researchers.

    "You can go onto the BLM website...and see what records they have for them. And the individual states also have their own land records office."
    — Katie Merkley [11:00]

  • Ancestry and Fold3: Some digitized records available.

  • FamilySearch: Has digitized tract books (not fully indexed yet).

  • State Land Offices: Local archival material.

8. Using Legal Land Descriptions and Mapping Homesteads

[12:58–15:46]

• Interpreting and Plotting Land Descriptions:

  • BLM provides legal land descriptions using the federal grid system.

  • Katie mapped Christian Murray's claim onto Google Maps and modern landmarks.

    "I was comparing the maps on the Land Office website to Google Maps. So I was able to find approximately where the modern location of the homestead."
    — Katie Merkley [14:09]

• Advanced Mapping Tools:

  • Lisa recommends Earth Point for Google Earth: enter the legal land description from BLM and have the land automatically plotted.

  • Useful for those wanting to visit ancestral land.

    "If you get that legal land description over at the BLM website, you can enter it into their free tool for township and range. It will automatically plot that piece of land in Google Earth..."
    — Lisa Louise Cook [14:21]

9. Further Learning and Community Resources

[15:46–16:43]

• Katie's article "A Genealogist Guide to Homesteading Records and Research" (available on FamilyTreeMagazine.com) provides an overview, survey system guidance, and charts.
• Katie's website for genealogy engagement: krgarnergenealogy.com
• Teaser: Katie will soon publish another article on Bounty Land research.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On who could homestead:

  "...there was nothing in the Homestead act saying that you had to be white so black people could sign up for a homestead. And in fact, there are homestead communities in the west that were primarily African Americans..."
  — Katie Merkley [03:31]

• On the sheer scale and legacy:

  "It lasted for 123 years and it is estimated there are currently 93 million living descendants of homesteaders."
  — Katie Merkley [08:26]

• On finding neighbors through records:

  "This is a really good way to find out FAN club members...they may have also been homesteaders. So if we wanted to, we could look up their homestead records as well."
  — Katie Merkley [09:51]

• On mapping homesteads today:

  "What could be better than walking the land ourselves?"
  — Lisa Louise Cook [15:46]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 01:36–03:41: History and social context of the Homestead Act
• 03:41–05:51: Homestead process, documentation for applications and claims
• 06:08–07:31: Challenges, success rate, reasons for abandonment
• 07:31–07:56: Purchasing land vs. homesteading
• 08:36–10:34: Kinds of available records, what they reveal for genealogists
• 11:00–12:58: Where to find and access records online, key resources
• 12:58–15:46: Using land descriptions and modern technology to locate homestead sites
• 15:46–16:43: Resources, articles, and ways to connect with guest expert

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Resources Mentioned

• Family Tree Magazine Article: A Genealogist Guide to Homesteading Records and Research
• BLM General Land Office Records: glorecords.blm.gov
• Earth Point township and range tool: (for plotting homesteads in Google Earth)
• FamilySearch: Digitized tract books (not yet indexed)
• Katie Merkley’s Website: krgarnergenealogy.com

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Episode Summary

This episode offers an essential primer for anyone wishing to research US ancestors through homesteading records. It not only frames these records in their historical and social context but provides hands-on advice for locating, interpreting, and making the most of the resulting documents—many of which provide rich, personal, and sometimes unexpected details about past lives and communities. Both beginners and seasoned researchers will find practical tips—especially in using modern mapping technology to connect with their family's past on the land itself.

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Transcript

[A]

Foreign.

[B]

Welcome to the Family Tree Magazine podcast. This is the show from America's number one genealogy magazine. I'm Lisa Louise Cook. In this episode, we are digging into one of the most powerful tools for uncovering the lives of our American ancestors. Land records, and specifically homestead records. When President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead act into law in 1862, it offered settlers a bold promise. Free land in exchange for a commitment to improve it. Well, this opportunity drew thousands of families westward in pursuit of a new beginning. But there was a catch. Qualifying for that land required detailed documentation and years of effort. So while it may have been a bureaucratic challenge for our ancestors, that very paper work has really become a treasure trove for today's genealogists. Homestead applications could include personal details, affidavits from neighbors, naturalization records, and a lot more. And that all provides a window into your family's past. So to walk us through how to uncover and use these really valuable records, I'm joined today by Katie Gardner Merkley. She is the author of the article A Guide to Homesteading, and that's available [e-mail] welcome to the show, Katie.

[A]

Thank you. I'm glad to be here.

[B]

I think probably the best place for us to start is sort of in the beginning. Could you tell us a little bit more about the history of homesteading?

[A]

Well, the US Was expanding westward. They needed to encourage settlers to go claim the land. And there were also have been a lot of immigrants coming in ever since even before the U.S. became the U.S. so this homesteading act was a way to draw settlers out west, relieve overpopulation in the East. And it offered a lot of opportunities. People who went west to take advantage of the Homesteading act would get free land. And it opened up opportunities that hadn't been available before. So it was during the Civil War when this act was passed. And one of the clauses was, if you had not raised arms against the U.S. so if you have not been a Confederate soldier, you could qualify. So they didn't want Southerners bringing slavery out West. And up until the Civil War, when a new state came into the Union, there was the debate of, are they a free state, are they a slave state? And the US Government was trying to keep it balanced because of political shenanigans around that. And, well, we all know the Civil War happened. Slavery was abolished, and this was one way to give out land but not spread slavery. And furthermore, the former slaves. There was nothing in the Homestead act saying that you had to be white so black people could Sign up for a homestead. And in fact, there are homestead communities in the west that were primarily African Americans taking advantage of this opportunity.

[B]

Well, let's talk about the process for homesteading because that's really kind of where the paperwork got generated. What was the process for getting a homestead?

[A]

So an ancestor who wanted a homestead would have to go to the land office to put in their application. So they had to pay a fee to start off with Christian Murray, he's the person that I discussed in the blog. He paid a sixteen dollar fee and his land, he improved the value of the land by $400 and was bringing in that much profit in crops every year. So it was a really good investment. If you're willing to do the paperwork, that is, which our ancestors had to do, the land would be surveyed. They would. It was a 160 acre section. So there's the federal land survey system, which is basically the grid system for land records. So he had one quarter of like the range of the township, said how far out he was from the meridian. So the homestead application would have that information on it. The ancestor would settle on their land, they had to build a house and they had to improve the land. So that usually meant growing crops. And at the end of the five years, they had to go in to prove their claim. And it had to be at least five years, and it had to be less than seven years because after seven years, the homestead claim was abandoned. So it's not proving the claim is where most of the paperwork is. And for Christian Murray, he was an immigrant. He had to also file his naturalization papers when he proved his claim. So that was one of the requirements for the homesteading process for immigrants. And if he had been a Civil War veteran, he would have had sent in his military paperwork because his time served would have counted towards the five years of residency.

[B]

You're describing a really difficult challenge, which is it was getting the paperwork done, but then it was having to do the work and make the land work and be able to sustain yourself. How many people actually managed to complete the process?

[A]

40%. So there were a lot of people who abandoned their homesteads and went back east. There were also people waiting and willing to claim abandoned homestead. So the conditions out west were difficult. The farming itself was difficult. Like I live in Utah where the ground is very rocky. We're known for the Rocky Mountains and I've heard that the trees out here were imported. Yeah, you have these people used to farming in the east and they come out west in the Rocky Mountains to try Farming and you gotta apply different strategies.

[B]

Right. Really a difficult thing to accomplish.

[A]

Yeah. I was reading some history about other groups who had migrated from Pennsylvania to Ohio and. Or they would migrate between south and north before the revolution and then migrate west after the revolution. And one of the challenges, no matter when you're migrating or why, is the different farming conditions. It's like people who knew how to farm in South Carolina did not know how to farm in Ohio. And I think it's the same with our homestead ancestors. They knew how to farm out east but not out west. And there were droughts and pests.

[B]

And if they really wanted to speed up that process, let's say they really liked it. You said in the article they could actually alternatively purchase the land. Tell us about that. What did that cost?

[A]

Yep, it was 125 per acre. So $1.25. They had to have lived there for six months.

[B]

Why would they purchase it versus just doing the seven years? Were they hoping to resell it or.

[A]

You know, if you're going to stay on the land permanently, I don't see what the difference between the six months and the five years would be. But then expediting paperwork, if you're trying to get anything from the government, there's a lot of paperwork involved and it's a hassle.

[B]

So that was initially how homesteading was set up, but how did it change over the years? How long did homesteading go on?

[A]

It lasted for 123 years and it is estimated there are currently 93 million living descendants of homesteaders.

[B]

So let's talk a little bit about the kinds of information that, that you're going to get. Well, and, and really the individual records. Which records are we looking for? What kinds of information will they have?

[A]

So the proof of the claim, that only happened for the 40% who actually completed their homestead. So I was going through the research report that I did on Christian Murray just before our podcast. So it's got his paperwork that he filed to start the process and there was a lot for proving it. There were newspaper articles published to announce that he intended to prove his claim. And there was assigned no document from the newspaper manager that that had been published along with a clipping of the actual notice. There were the affidavits of two witnesses and there was also his questionnaire. So there's a five page questionnaire that he had to answer about his land and his family, which sadly did not name the family. It said he had a wife and four children and it talked about how long they lived on the land, what kind of crops he produced and what improvements he made on the land. And the witnesses were also asked about the improvements on the land and how often they saw the applicant and how close they lived to him and if anybody lived closer. So this is a really good way to find out fan club members. So we've. We know a few of Christian Murray's neighbors. They may have also been homesteaders. So if we wanted to, we could look up their homestead records as well. He might have witnessed for them. Witnesses were not supposed to be related, but that rule was not very well enforced.

[B]

Very interesting. So the Homestead act lasted around, you said, about 123 years. I think in the article you said there were around 270 million acres of land that were homesteaded.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And about roughly 4 million claims filed. So that's pretty incredible. Where today could we be going to look and find these records?

[A]

So there's the brew of Land Management, General Lands Office. So you can go onto the BLM website. You can look up a state and a county and put in an ancestor's name and see what records they have for them. And the individual states also have their own land records office. And for Christian Murray is able to find records for both the Utah Land Office and the BLM. And I believe Fold 3 does have some. Nebraska is still the only state that's fully digitized, last I checked. And Christian Murray's homestead records were on ancestry.

[B]

You mentioned the Bureau of Land Management and of course the General land office, the Glo. So the website for that for everybody listening, is glorecords.blm.gov and that really is a treasure trove and pretty easy to use, as you said. You could just kind of start with the names and if you know what state and you can dig in from there. And you mentioned in the article that tract books can be found over at FamilySearch. They're digitized, they're not indexed yet, but you can certainly browse those. And a lot of the information that you're going to find over at the. At the GLO website is going to help you to work with those as well. And you did do this really interesting case study with Christian Murray. So I encourage everybody to. To go to familytreemagazine.com we'll have a link directly to Katie's article where you can kind of read the details of what she found and the maps. And that BLM website, they have maps that kind of work in conjunction with the legal land description and the other documents that they, they provide. There, don't they?

[A]

Yeah, I did make some charts to explain the survey system because it's like, yeah, that in and of itself that can be tricky if you don't understand how it works. But once you understand it, it's actually more straightforward than the Meets and bounds system.

[B]

And that BLM website has the interactive map. I noticed you had a screenshot from that. You know, they've been adding some of these newer features in the last several years. So, yeah, I think if somebody has been there in, you know, quite a while ago in the past in their research, it might be worth going back and researching their ancestors to see what other kinds of material that they have at the blm.

[A]

Yeah, and you know, one thing I did with Christian Murray in the research report is I pulled up the maps on the Land Office websites and I pulled up Google Maps and I was able to find something close. On Google Maps, the closest modern landmarks is Wasatch State Park.

[B]

So you were using what, the legal land description over at BLM and trying to find that on Google Maps?

[A]

Yeah, I was comparing the maps on the Land Office website to Google Maps. So I was able to find approximately where the modern location of the homestead.

[B]

Oh, well, I've got a little addition to that. There is a website, it's called Earth Point and it's for Google Earth. Google Earth is something that I teach genealogists to use for genealogy and Earth Point, if you get that legal land description over at the BLM website, you can enter it into their free tool for township and range. It will automatically plot that piece of land in the Google Earth, which of course is a free software program you can put on your computer. So even more extensive than Google Maps, it's going to actually plot the land precisely using that legal land description right in Google Earth. So there's another way to kind of get that view of the place where our ancestors did their homesteading.

[A]

Yeah, that sounds really handy. And you know, if you live in the area. So Christian Murray is an ancestor of one of my friends. She sent me his homestead papers from ancestry so I could write a research report on them. So she lives in Utah, I live in Utah. So theoretically, she and her family could go up to the actual place where their ancestor homesteaded. So if you're taking a genealogy trip, that tool you're talking about could be really handy if you can find the places for your ancestor owned land.

[B]

Absolutely. What could be better than walking the land ourselves? Well, everybody listening. Hey, this article, go check it out. It's called a Genealogist Guide to Homesteading Records and Research. It's an overview of kind of the history, the process, the tools that you can use that we've been talking about here on the show. And of course, we've been talking to Katie Merkley about this. Katie, is there somewhere where folks can visit with you online or do you have a website? What kinds of ways do you interact with the genealogy community?

[A]

I do have a website. It is krgarnergeneology.com well, thank you so.

[B]

Much for coming by the Family Tree Magazine podcast, and we'll look forward to seeing more articles from you over@family tremagazine.com thanks, Katie.

[A]

Thank you. I do. I did write one recently on Bounty Land, which should be published in the near future.

[B]

Excellent. We'll keep an eye out for it.

[A]

Thank you.

[B]

Thanks for joining me for this episode episode of the Family Tree Magazine podcast. This is the show from America's number one genealogy magazine. I'll have links to everything that we've talked about today on the show over at the Show Notes page and you can find [e-mail] podcast and there you'll also find a huge back catalog of past episodes full of topics that are going to help you in your genealogy research. And when you stop by the website, be sure to sign up for our free newsletter. That really is the perfect way to stay in touch with Family Tree Magazine and get all the latest and greatest news, plus the announcements of each and every new podcast episode. I'm Lisa Louise Cook and I hope that you'll come by and visit me at my website, genealogygems.com and there you will find the Genealogy Gems podcast and a link over to our Genealogy Gems YouTube channel. So until next time, have fun climbing your Family Tree.