MASHA BRANSON 

History Corner

Donation Land Claim Act of September 27th, 1850

Sec.  4.  And be it further enacted, That there shall be, and hereby is, granted to every white settler or occupant of public lands, American half-reeds included, above the age of eighteen years, being a citizen of the United States, or having made a declaration on or before the first day of December, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, now residing in the Territory, or who shall become a resident before the said first of December, 1851, and who shall have resided on and cultivated the same for four consecutive years, and shall otherwise conform to the provisions of this act, the quantity of one half section, or three hundred and twenty acres of land, if a single man; and if a married man, or if he shall become married within one year from the first day of December, 1850, the quantity of one section, or six hundred and forty acres, one half to himself and the other half to his wife, to be held by her in her own right; and the surveyor shall designate the part enuring to the husband and that to the wife, and enter the same on the records of his office.