I'm not sure how much GR immigrants benefited from the Homestead Acts. The first Homestead act was in 1862, and by 1880 the best available land along rivers and streams had been taken. When my Norwegian ancestors homesteaded in 1884 they had to go to the eastern plains of Montana to find land ( an area with very little water). There was also the Forest Homestead Act of 1906 and the Homestead Act of 1912, but I can find very little homesteading activity after 1910. There are certainly pockets of activity that can be pointed to, but these were more in dry land farming areas, and pretty short lived. By far the biggest transfer of government lands to individuals took place in the 19th century. I don't know of any GR migration to Montana till after the river valleys had been settled and the irrigation projects were in place. I'd be interested to know what happened in the Dakota's and other areas where GR's settled. You can find interesting information on this subject by visiting the Homestead National Monument website. You can access it through the National Park Service at www.nps.gov <http://www.nps.gov/> Allan R. Lenhardt 240 East Drive Baton Rouge, LA 70806 (225) 344-1424 (225) 223-3121 (cell) Life is God's novel. Let him write it. Isaac Beshevis Singer in Voices for Life (1975) _____ From: KLpelzel@aol.com [mailto:KLpelzel@aol.com] Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 9:36 AM To: arl@imt.net; GER-VOLGA@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [GV] travel to US Purchasing / taking ownership was not that big a problem. The Homestead Act (the original one and the later one) provided a great opportunity to "prove up" land and then become the owner. Vacant land was in abundance. The real issue was avoiding the scammers who distributed brochures with lies about the quality of the land and the climate, who were supported by the newspapers and the railroads and banks - all of whom had a vested interest in unloading millions of acres. Interest rates were less than 6% through 1929 (when they were less for obvious reasons). The Volga Germans were treated like any other susceptible buyer. There are good discussions on this topic in two great books: The Sod House Frontier 1854- 1890 and The Worst Hard Times . _____ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at <http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000339> AOL.com.

Some of the GR immigrants weren't farmers. My Grossvater came to Portland, Oregon in 1912 and worked as a blacksmith's assistant per the 1920 US census. Sally Katharinenstadt, Wiesenmueller On Wed, 21 Mar 2007, Allan R. Lenhardt wrote: > I'm not sure how much GR immigrants benefited from the Homestead Acts. The > first Homestead act was in 1862, and by 1880 the best available land along > rivers and streams had been taken. When my Norwegian ancestors homesteaded > in 1884 they had to go to the eastern plains of Montana to find land ( an > area with very little water). There was also the Forest Homestead Act of > 1906 and the Homestead Act of 1912, but I can find very little homesteading > activity after 1910. There are certainly pockets of activity that can be > pointed to, but these were more in dry land farming areas, and pretty short > lived. By far the biggest transfer of government lands to individuals took > place in the 19th century. I don't know of any GR migration to Montana till > after the river valleys had been settled and the irrigation projects were in > place. I'd be interested to know what happened in the Dakota's and other > areas where GR's settled. > > > > You can find interesting information on this subject by visiting the > Homestead National Monument website. You can access it through the National > Park Service at www.nps.gov <http://www.nps.gov/> > > > > > > Allan R. Lenhardt > > 240 East Drive > > Baton Rouge, LA 70806 > > > > (225) 344-1424 > > (225) 223-3121 (cell) > > > > Life is God's novel. Let him write it. > > Isaac Beshevis Singer in Voices for Life (1975) > > > > _____ > > From: KLpelzel@aol.com [mailto:KLpelzel@aol.com] > Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 9:36 AM > To: arl@imt.net; GER-VOLGA@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [GV] travel to US > > > > Purchasing / taking ownership was not that big a problem. The Homestead Act > (the original one and the later one) provided a great opportunity to "prove > up" land and then become the owner. Vacant land was in abundance. The real > issue was avoiding the scammers who distributed brochures with lies about > the quality of the land and the climate, who were supported by the > newspapers and the railroads and banks - all of whom had a vested interest > in unloading millions of acres. Interest rates were less than 6% through > 1929 (when they were less for obvious reasons). The Volga Germans were > treated like any other susceptible buyer. There are good discussions on this > topic in two great books: The Sod House Frontier 1854- 1890 and The Worst > Hard Times . > > > > > > _____ > > AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from > AOL at <http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000339> AOL.com. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GER-VOLGA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >