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