The qualifications to apply and receive a land patent varies according to what Act the land patent is purchased under. The 1856 land patents for Elizabeth Summerville were issued under The Cash Act of 1820. This Act authorized land to sell for a minimum of $1.25/acre at the minimum of 80-acre size tracts. The land surveyed would be offered at a two-week public sale and the land was to be sold in quarter sections to the highest bidder. Land not sold at this public sale was to be offered for private sale in amounts not less than 160 acres. The sale was to be paid in cash at the time of sale (Cash Act). Sometimes settlers would not wait for the land to be surveyed and then made available for sale. The settler(s) would take residence on any available and unclaimed land. Then once the land was surveyed and made ready for sale the settlers had first right to purchase 160 acres and were given 21 months to pay. Now, this is as of the time period of 1856: prior to that, settlers could have that land bought out from under them. The Preemption Act of 1842 changed that. With the disclaimer that there were ways to skirt the law in any number of loopholes, it could be Mathew/Madison Summerville already had made settlement on land. I am not sure if in 1856 the same standard of the 1862 Homestead Act applied where you were not supposed to be qualified for a land patent if you owned land in another territory/area or if you already owned 160 acres but that is certainly something to take into consideration. Russell’s speculations sound very reasonable that Summerville might still have owned land in Tennessee that had not yet been sold. If there were a narrow window for Elizabeth to purchase the land of their desire and they/she had to act fast, then Elizabeth might have more easily qualified. I am not sure how her release of dower on the [presumed] land in Tennessee would have affected her “property ownership” status for the land patent however. But I am probably overworking the issue. Also what I am suggesting is that not all the land around the land that Elizabeth purchased was necessarily public domain. Land patents were the first sale of land from the government to the first owner of that land. Subsequent selling and buying of the land-patent land would have generated the land deed records/transactions and would have been recorded in the county where the land was. If you have not already done so, you might want to check land deeds in the same twp/area of Elizabeth’s land patent to see if you can find land that Mathew had already purchased. I would watch the John R. Hudson dude that purchased a land patent adjacent to Elizabeth’s land patent. I noticed in the 1850 census that John R. Hudson lived next door to the Summervilles in 1850 and that John R. Hudson had Tennessee ties also, interesting. Since you have reasonably considered that Mathew/Madison was competent, I think you might want to consider the most likely explanation about the possible conflict of his (1) not having sold his land (yet) in Tennessee, or (2) he already had the maximum amount of land he could have (in Lawrence Co, Arkansas) that disqualified his buying more. I wonder if the land became available for purchase while Mathew was on a trip back to Tennessee to finish selling his land there (tying up loose ends.) Elizabeth had to have access to the apprx $100 to buy her 80 acres at the time of sale. I wonder if they/she had family nearby to help in this purchase. You may find it worthwhile to obtain the land-entry case file for this land patent. It could also be that Mathew was also applying for a land patent but missed out at the public sale. You alluded to the possible Native American status of Mathew: I would not think that that would be as likely the reason why he did not buy that land because he was fairly recent to Arkansas from Tennessee. I would venture he would have more likely have hidden his Indian blood. Further, the Indian trek through the south to the Indian Territory of Oklahoma had long-since ended (ca1836 I believe). Just a thought. I wonder what the land-entry case file would reveal. Good luck. V. -------------- Original message -------------- > Hi everyone, thanks for all the ideas and suggestions! My couple > (Mathew and Elizabeth Summerville/Sommerville) were about 25 when the > land was purchased, and Mathew seemed to be an upstanding citizen, as I > have found records that he was granted guardianship over a child during > that time. Mathew was later taken by the Union army, held in prison, > where he died. He is buried at Jefferson Barracks. In all the > records he is listed as "citizen from Lawrence County". At the time of > his death, in 1864, he was 39. Age and frailty doesn't *seem* to be a > reason not to own land, but.... > > Please keep throwing out suggestions, I welcome things to keep my brain > going. > > Thanks! > :) Shantell Ford > > ________________________________________________________________ > Speed up your surfing with Juno SpeedBand. > Now includes pop-up blocker! > Only $14.95/ month - visit http://www.juno.com/surf to sign up today! > > > ==== AGS Mailing List ==== > Please do not forward or cross post messages to this list or from this list > without the permission of the original author. >