there ought to be a test
Everybody who reads the "Little House" books ought to have to pass a test to prove that they know the difference between a homestead, preemption claim, and tree claim. Call it my pet peeve or personal mission or whatever, but why can't anybody get a grasp on this?

This is from the Walnut Grove website: Charles and Caroline Ingalls settled on the property in May 1874 declaring their intent to homestead it. After three consecutive crop failures they decided not to complete the homestead process. Instead they purchased the land in July 1876 from the United States for $413 and resold it immediately for $400 to Abraham Keller.

no, No, NO!! Charles Ingalls filed an intent to preempt the Plum Creek land. He completed the preemption process, as was his original intent. By law, Caroline Ingalls had no part in this at all; her name isn't on the declaration to intent or the patent. Her name couldn't have been on the preemption papers; she wasn't the head of household.

This land was never Charles Ingalls' homestead claim or homestead, and it shouldn't be called a homestead today. Charles Ingalls filed on a homestead in North Hero Township. It was in Section 4. The land in Section 18 was never, ever the homestead of Charles Ingalls.

The difference between preempting and homesteading was something that you just didn't get confused about in 1874. Yes, it's been 130 years since then, but this is HISTORY, people. And it's very, very important to the "Little House" story.

Next thing you know, people are going to be saying that Laura Ingalls taught the Bouchie school during the winter of 1882-83...
- posted by pioneergirl at 12:57 PM