Federal Land System

If you are doing historical and/or genealogical research and you don't learn something, you are doing it wrong. Yesterday I learned that parts of Ford county were part of the Federal Land System that issued Military Warrants. Basically because the U.S. Government was very cash poor and had a vast amount of land. The system is by no means new information to me. But that Ford County was part of it is. What am I writing about? Let me explain.
In the first part of our nation's history our Federal Government issued Land Warrants it entice people to serve in the military and to compensate those who did. When the conditions were met a person was issued a warrant for a certain amount of land based on their service. It varied by rank, length of service, if wounded and other different factors. The person who had the warrant had the right to sell it, and many often did.


With a warrant the holder could then exchange it for a Land Patent which gave them rights to a specific parcel of land. Large parts of Ford county were acquired this way and this is completely new information to me. Here is an example that involves a figure in our history.
Albert C.H. Harville served as a private in the 1st Alabama Regiment Volunteers during the Mexican War. This entitled him to 160 acres. He sold his Warrant to David Patton who then exchanged it for two parcels of land in the future Patton Township of Ford county. Many of us know this land as it is part of he former "Chanute Recreation Area"

I would guess, and it's just a guess, that about half of Ford County was acquired using this system. In Ford County one of the biggest beneficiaries of this system was Michael Sullivant.



The land records are available online at the BLM website.
https://glorecords.blm.gov/default.aspx



Location: Paxton, IL 60957, USA

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