Page content last modified: February 18, 2008, added land purchased by John Kelly.

HANCOCK  COUNTY,  ILLINOIS
SITES  &  VINTAGE  PHOTOS

 

Hancock Township Sections
Township Five North of the Beardstown Baseline,
and Five West of the 4th Principal Meridian.

Where did they live?  What land did they own?

 

Hancock Township is comprised of 36 sections, each 1 mile square, indicated by the darker lines within the grids below.  Sections are numbered starting in the northeast corner, moving west and then to the east, and so forth, through 36.  Each small, green-bordered square on this diagram represents 40 acres, a quarter of a quarter section.

Some of the purchases plotted here were more or less than 40 acre increments, so this diagram should not be interpreted as a precise representation.  Instead, it offers a general idea of where people were located in relationship to each other.

In the government offices where land purchases were recorded and patents (certificates of ownership) were issued, patents were often issued many months after the purchaser had already taken possession of the land, due to the volume of purchases the besieged land offices had to process.  Researcher Helen Vargas shared the information that in some cases the delayed transference of ownership was because the purchaser bought the land in installments.

A third scenario was the circumstance of preemption: the purchaser had settled on the land prior to the time when the government offered it for sale, and was given the first option to buy it - a form of squatter's rights, so to speak.

The grids on the left are identical.  Scroll to the name of the purchaser, for the most part displayed in the order of the certificate dates.  Place your mouse indicator over the mini-buttons associated with the names to view a detailed description of the purchase.

NOTE: Your browser must be able to execute Javascript to view the descriptions and the page must be completely loaded - including the Rootsweb ads - before the descriptions will appear.  If you follow one of the links to other pages and then return, there may be another delay of a few seconds before the displays will execute.

J marks the location of Joetta
W marks the location of Woodville School District 105

 

PUT YOUR MOUSE INDICATOR OVER THE MINI BUTTONS BELOW TO VIEW ADDITIONAL DETAILS ABOUT EACH PURCHASE.

Ca. 1839 Armstead Mosley, 160 acres

1840 James B. Lincoln, 119.39 acres

1840 Elijah Pope, 101 acres

1840 John Camren, 80 acres

1840 Thomas Whittaker assigned (sold) 40 acres to John Camren.

1840 John Kelly, 160 acres

1840 John Williams, 57.95 acres

1840 William Long, 83.77 acres

1840 James Alexander, 100.48 acres

1840 Thomas McCubbin assigned (sold) 40 acres to John Cameren.

1840 Anthony Duffey (Duffy), 120 acres

1840 Enoch Way assigned (sold) 80 acres to Wesley Williams.

1840 James B. Lincoln, 40 acres

1840 James B. Lincoln, 40 acres

1840 John Camron, 40 acres

1840 Joseph Way, 40 acres

1840 James E. Roberts, 40 acres

1843 Joseph Way, 40 acres

1848 Charles W. Parker, 48 acres

1849 John Camren, 40 acres

1851 Robert Sample, 80 acres,
later, Charles Z. Parker

1851 Peter E. Weakley, 40 acres

1851 Charles Parker, 40 acres

1852 John Denison Sr., 40 acres

1857 Edward C. Stifler, 40 acres

1863 James Barb

You may view, print copies and/or order certified copies of the certificates from
The Bureau of Land Management

 

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