The Historical Society has papers from Lincoln County from as early as 1873. Check under Lincoln Center. And for the period before Lincoln County was formed - and the early period of formation, check the Salina papers, because the area which is now Lincoln County was a part of Saline County then. All I have seen in the early papers regarding Homestead applications are notices when someone intended to finalize ownership - i.e., they had lived on the claim long enough and developed it adequately, and were going with witnesses to attest to that fact. Wilda Morris Clarence Suelter wrote: > Dear List: > > I would like to inquire about the following statement taken directly > from Tracee's last communique. > > "Several of you asked about homestead records; were they at the > courthouse. > There are 6 books of patent deeds in the Register of Deeds office, but > they > don't begin until about 1880 and aren't quite in chronological order, > for > some reason. So the answer, I guess, is yes, but later homesteaders, and > you'd have to dig. I liked Bill's idea of going through newspapers just > for > the homestead claim "gleanings" but didn't have time to get to that. If > there > are several people interested in doing that, let Bill or me know and > perhaps > we could divide up the years and tackle it that way." > > My ancester came to Lincoln County in 1868. As far as I can tell, he > actually began a homestead that year. The records I obtained from the > Lincoln Court House indicates that he made the balance of payment of > $7.40 required by law for entry of the homestead on April 9, 1879. The > Patent Record was signed by President Rutherford B. Hayes on June 30, > 1880. This certificate was not recorded in Lincoln until October 21, > 1885. My query: is this the usual time line for these Homestead > applications or was my ancester slow in getting his final payment in. > Did the Homestead application allow 10 years to complete? Also he was > granted a Warranty Deed for some land he purchased from the Union > Pacific Railroad on March 12, 1883. My indications are that he actually > built a home on this property well before that. Does anyone know how > these sales were conducted? > > Do you think that the Lincoln papers might have information on the > initial homestead applications. If so, I would be willing to search the > 1868 through 1873 papers. The trouble is the Kansas Historical Library > does not have Lincoln papers on film beginning before 1880. Did Lincoln > have a newspaper before 1880 and who might have them? > > Clarence