The Fine Print
- You have to prove you fit all the criteria.
- Since the Homestead Act started during the Civil War, that little clause about not fighting against the Union excluded nearly half the country.
- Also, you have to swear the land is going to be used for shelter and food for you and your family, not anybody else.
- Maybe the government had read Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
- Take your form and your $10 filing fee (about $188 today), because the government can’t manage a piece of paper without being paid, and then you can pick your land.
- Umm, yeah: you don’t own the land until after five years of work have passed and you have two witnesses to you actually doing it, plus six more bucks to secure your claim.
- Hint: make friends.
- If you die, your widow or heirs, so long as they’ve been living there for five years, can complete the claim.
- If everybody but the baby dies, the kid is entitled to the proceeds of the sale of the land, after filing appropriate forms and fees, of course.