By Barbara Andersen · 26 June 2018
Imagine what this headline would mean today. The Homestead Act of 1862 was the biggest land give away ever by our Federal Government. It basically said that you could obtain permanent ownership of up to 160 acres of land. All you had to do was take possession of the land, live on and improve it by building a house and planting crops. (Proving your claim.) At the end of 5 years, if two neighbors attested to your work, the land became yours. (Fees of about $16 had to be paid.) The offer was open to adult citizens, and intended citizens, who had never borne arms against the United States. In an age when women had yet to receive the right to vote, they along with single men and men who headed households, were eligible to participate in this land giveaway.
If you have ancestors who immigrated to our country in the late 1800s or early 1900s, and didn’t relocate to a big city, they probably took advantage of the free land available in the western United States. On my mother’s side of the family, they came from The Netherlands and settled in North Dakota and Montana. I have a photo of my mother’s family standing in front of their 2 room house in about 1915. I am sure the house was meant to be temporary, until a substantial house could be built. But over 20 years later, and after raising 6 children, they still lived in the two room frame house with a lean-to kitchen. My grandmother who was in her early 40s at the time, looks to be at least 65 years old. (So maybe there isn’t such a thing as a free lunch!) The Homestead Act allowed homesteading until 1986. Alaska was the last state to participate.
The homesteading principle lives on in Arizona today. It allows homeowners (whether in single family homes, condos or mobile homes) to exempt up to $150,000 of their primary residence from attachment or forced sale for debts. Homeowners must live in their home for 40 months before the homestead law is in effect. The law was originally written to protect people from losing their farms but extends to almost all primary residences. Find out more of the intricacies of this Law by looking up Arizona Homestead Laws online or contact an attorney.
First published in The Bodeen Team’s quarterly client newsletter, Second Quarter 2018.