Yellowstone Genealogy Forum

 

Locating Early Settlers in Billings Area

 

Friday, February 01, 2008 (Cleve Kimmel)

 

There are two basic types of early settlers in the Clarks’ Fork Valley area that later became Billings, Montana. When one tries to locate their ancestral homestead it is quite common to find “no record.” Should you have an ancestor that you believed settled here, or elsewhere in the state, it is important to search the General Land Office (GLO) original Tract Book files, and not the attendant Plat Book files? The latter are distributed on the BLM website; the Tract Book files haven’t been distributed, and are stored on separate microfilm rolls available at the BLM office, not available to the general public: you have to ask for them. The two settler types are: those who established a homestead and completed the filing process (including railroads & similar), and those who failed to complete the process – or relinquished their title.

Please note: Copies of the file papers are very-very-very expensive, and a lot of them are actually required. In preparation of this small segment, over $200 was invested.

There are four primary GLO documents that are related to normal homesteading[1] stored onsite at the local BLM office, regardless of the type of homestead application: Tract Book, Individual Homestead Application Form #4-051 (Created by the Land Office), Application File, and the Plat Book. From the Tract Book you can locate the Receipt Number & Certificate of Purchase relative to the application that can be submitted to NARA to obtain the GLO Official records of the homesteader’s application file documents. These documents cost approximately $40.00 per claim to obtain (2007) and they define the complete events related to the homesteader’s application even though it never was processed for issue of a Patent or Warrant.

Tract Book: These preprinted forms are about 11” x 17” in size and are sorted by Township and Range within the land agents book. The following information is recorded within in the columns “in pencil” only. When the applicant establishes a filing at the appropriate GLO Land Office (Bozeman in general for the local area, although Miles City was also used) the agent would enter the information in sequence by relative section number in the order received ( 1, 2, 3, etc…). Typically there are three sections recorded per sheet per township, so the writing is very tiny, and being in pencil, is extremely faint and difficult to read. These penciled entries depict the original homesteader, whether he obtained a Patent or not. After the homesteader was issued a “Deed”, an “inked” entry is created in the “blank column” defining the issue date. (The homesteader would not have received the actual document until much later.) Generally, the issued Title would contain a penciled date of filing on one of the document’s corner on its reverse side. Should the title not be processed, the relative details would be noted in “ink”, and written wherever there is space to do so. Some dated relative “ACT of the Homestead Law” covers most land losses. Sometimes the penciled entries have an inked line drawn through them to indicate, “Deleted.” When writing to NARA, or using their on-line system, the Certificate Numbers noted on the form, along with the other relative information for an individual will provide a wealth of information.

The Tract Book entries obviously precede the Plat Book preparation, and follow the physical land survey.

                        DESCRIPTION OF TRACT – Part of Section, Section, Township, Range.

                        CONTENTS – Acres + 100ths (of acres).

                        RATE PER ACRE – Dollars, Cents.

                        PURCHASE MONEY – Dollars, Cents.

                        NAME OF THE PURCHASER

                        DATE OF SALE

                        NUMBER OR RECEIPT AND CERTIFICATE OF PURCHASE

                        BLANK COLUMN WITHOUT ANY TITLE (Various comments are noted – if you are very lucky!)

Homestead Application Form 4-051: This is also an 8” x 17” form, and is specifically related to a Land Office. Each form is recorded by the land office assigned SERIAL NUMBER, and is thus very difficult or impossible to locate. It seems that the GLO used the Certificate numbers and the Serial Numbers interchangeably (although receipt numbers vary), thus completely destroying the file location source within the same Land Office jurisdiction. (See Homestead Application)

The file defines the legal owner and residence plus description of the land. For each action required by law that has to be observed for land acquisition, there are appropriate entries made by date and notation. The final actions are generally either “Relinquishment”, or “Patent Sent to XXXXXXXX.” When a Patent (Warrant) is issued, this information, along with attendant Fee Land Titles issued by the Government is submitted to the GLO clerks for creation of an “Application File” register.

 

Application File: This is a tabulated form, about 17” x 24” in size. There are several sheets for each Township & Range combination relative to a Prime Meridian, depending on the quantity of notes being added. These forms are only prepared after final action for an existing ownership of the land has been established. References to previous filings relative to homesteads that failed to be completed are also noted. Records that have not been accepted are not located on the BLM Search site. This form will provide quick insight to the land transactions, but no names are noted.

The form contains the following Headings:

            Section: (1 through 36) for Montana.

Section Subdivision: These are divided into four quarters (NE, NW, SW, SE). Each of these 160 acre plats are further divided into four additional quarters (eg., 40 acres), followed by Lot Numbers, and Other Description.

Acres: Listed to 100ths of an acre.

Kind of Entry or Purpose of Order: HE = Homestead Entry, AHE = Additional Homestead Entry, CE Pat = Conservation Entry (Desert Land Act), TC = Timber Culture Entry, SG = Special Grant issued by Act of Congress, R/W = Right of Way, and similar (refer to the homestead act for all definitions – these are created at various times.) Ownership names are not noted, so using this form by itself can require a lot of research..

Serial Number or Order:  This number is supposed to be used for locating the applicant’s file; however, if the applicant wasn’t issued a Patent (Warrant, etc), then that file can only be obtained from NARA. (See Remarks below.) The GLO apparently re-used these abandoned patent serial numbers for other homesteaders, thus clouding the research efforts. (There must be a better explanation, and if you know the details, please email the webmaster.)

Date of Action:  This refers to final action issue date of Patent or Relinquishment.

Date Posted: Rarely used, but on files researched was same as the Action Date.

Remarks: Recorders comments relative to action taken. To understand the comments you need to review the Homestead Law Revisions.

NARA Homestead Package: This is obtained by placing an order for the application file with NARA defining the attendant information desired. The relative file numbers associated with the land are required. In these files will be the original filing papers, Land Office Register’s certifications, land description, filing dates, Application File Number issued in numerical sequence by date of entry (later called serial number by the GLO/BLM and creating confusion with duplication of numbers.), Receiver Office application and payment files, Affidavits of applicant and witnesses for the filing, non-mineral certification (no land can be homesteaded in it is found to contain minerals; or “apparently” suspected of such.), verification of land survey completion, and the “actual” physical dimensions of the land, formal homestead application form preprinted for this specific purpose (plus hand written forms required by GLO.) From this file one can establish the exact process sequences and disposition of the land. Thus your missing ancestral homestead can be located, and the “hearsay” family history confirmed or denied.

Enjoy the HUNT!

 

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