I am working with a land patent through the BLM that is labeled both on the original patent and in the county deed books as a "Preemption Certificate." I did a bit of research and it looks as though a preemption certificate was issued to someone who was already living on the land they wished to purchase (or a "squatter"). Does anyone know approximately how long someone would have to be living on the land to have a preemption certificate issued? The land patent I am working with is in Kent County, Michigan with the purchase date of 1839 and the patent issuance date of 1841. Thank you! Bethany Waterbury

>Does anyone know approximately how long someone would have to be living on the land to have a preemption certificate issued? The land patent I am working with is in Kent County, Michigan with the purchase date of 1839 and the patent issuance date of 1841. Bethany, you are wise to consider legal parameters when evaluating your ancestor's records and situation. However, there was no one, blanket, set of rules that applied to all eras and locales. The basic approach to determining the federal law in effect for a particular subject in a historical period would be this: - Go to the Library of Congress website, "A CENTURY OF LAWMAKING FOR A NEW NATION: U. S. CONGRESSIONAL DOCUMENTS & DEBATES, 1774-1875 (memory.loc.gov/ammem/hlawquery.html). - Run a search of U.S. STATUTES AT LARGE for the relevant term (in this case, spell the word with a hyphen: "pre-emption") - From the hits, select the one that is the most-immediately prior to the date of your need, and read that law. - If it does not pertain to your specific area/condition/whatever, then work your way backward until you find the law that was relevant. You state that your person-of-interest paid for the land in 1839. A new pre-emption law went into effect on 22 June 1838. Your process of "working backward" should be fairly easy! Elizabeth --------------------------------------------- Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG www.HistoricPathways.com www.EvidenceExplained.com & for daily tips on records and record sources; www.Facebook.com/EvidenceExplained -----Original Message----- From: transitional-genealogists-forum-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:transitional-genealogists-forum-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Bethany Waterbury Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2013 8:30 AM To: transitional-genealogists-forum@rootsweb.com Subject: [TGF] Preemptive Land Patent I am working with a land patent through the BLM that is labeled both on the original patent and in the county deed books as a "Preemption Certificate." I did a bit of research and it looks as though a preemption certificate was issued to someone who was already living on the land they wished to purchase (or a "squatter"). Does anyone know approximately how long someone would have to be living on the land to have a preemption certificate issued? The land patent I am working with is in Kent County, Michigan with the purchase date of 1839 and the patent issuance date of 1841. Thank you! Bethany Waterbury The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message