Spring has finally arrived in my part of the world and we are giddy with temperatures approaching the 70s.  Growing up in a farming community, spring brings with it renewed hope and a new planting season.  And even if your ancestors were not farmers, they were likely tied to this cadence of the seasons.  Shopkeepers, taverns, implement dealers and others relied on farmers to have a great crop so that they would purchase goods and services.  So, what does any of this have to do with your ancestor’s story or genealogy?  Well, like our ancestors, what we do for a living often impacts our family and culture.
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Family, friends and neighbors are living treasures when we begin to write our family story.  As you look for ways to add more interest, humanize your ancestors beyond the dates and places, look to these living treasures to help.  You will not find someone who can share personal stories about your fourth-great grandfather, but there should be people with stories to share about your parents, grandparents and their siblings.
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Many of us have immigrant ancestors who were farmers.  With the homestead act of 1862, more opportunities became available to settle in the Midwest and beyond.  Some were second-generation Americans left the Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin areas where their parents had homesteaded to travel further west to Minnesota and the Dakotas.  Like many of us today, they moved to improve the life of their family and for new opportunities.

If you do have farming ancestors, there is great value in the information and documents tied to land records.  County Courthouses are repositories for historical and current information on the ownership of land.  For the purposes of telling our family story, I’d like to focus on two record sources that I’ve found useful when telling my family story:  Agricultural Census Records and Homestead Records.

Many online genealogy sites have census records for the states as well as federal records.  An overlooked part of the census is the agricultural census.  On these records, you can find everything from how many mules they owned to number of bushels of potatoes raised to the value of the farm and machinery. You can view an example of a blank 1885 agricultural census to see what information is available.  The quality of the completed form was dependent on the enumerator and how willing/thorough your ancestor was in answering the questions.  When you look at your relatives’ information be sure to compare with their neighbors’ information.  It will give you a sense of how they were doing.

If you have a relative who you think homesteaded a piece of land you may be in luck.  The US National Archives & Records Administration (NARA) has the homestead records called Land Entry Records.  These packets include a gold mine of information—especially if your ancestor proved up and met the requirements of the homestead.  Here are just a few of the interesting things I found in one of my ancestor’s packet:



Homestead application

• Homestead intention
• Notice of final proof (published in local papers)
• Homestead Proof
• Testimony of witness
  The homesteader and three witnesses each completed the Testimony of Witness/Claimant form which asked questions about what the land was like, what kind of home was built including size, what kind of crops raised, was there a well, if they lived there (to meet homestead requirements), and if claimant was naturalized, a copy of the naturalization papers.  This is great information for a genealogist as well as for the family historian.
  
  You can order the homestead packet from NARA by using Form 84 Land Entry Files.  I would refer you to the instructions on the NARA site regarding the cost and process. You must decide if the cost and time will be beneficial to your story. I found the information to be quite helpful.
  Here are a couple of tips to help you fill out the form:
• You must know the section number, range and township numbers.  You can find this information on a plat map from that time, a land record or even a will. 
• You may also want to check the Bureau of Land Management site to see if your ancestor actually has a homestead record. Note: You will be charged by the NARA for searching for the record whether they find anything or not, so it is a good idea to do your homework before requesting the packet.
  
  Having ties to the land creates a sense of place in that local history and community. And while most farm families settled and stayed on their homestead, others continued to follow the lure of new land available further west, including Canada. (A future BLOG will focus on Canada.)  If this was the case with your relatives, you may have other land locations to search as you find interesting tidbits about your family.
  
                 Each blade of grass has its spot on earth whence it draws its life,
                            its strength; and so is man rooted to the land from
                               which he draws his faith together with his life.
                                                   - Joseph Conrad