If you've located your ancestor's completed homestead record, search the Bureau of Land Management tract books for the area where his property was located. You will find an entry for his completed claim and other entries as well. There may be relatives who started the homestead process, but didn't complete it. Those incomplete files are at the National Archives and may hold clues about those "non-completers."
This post on my Rootdig blog contains more information on using these books.
Where does one find the BLM tract books?
ReplyDeleteThey are on FamilySearch (most of them). There is a blog post here about using them that has links to the guides. http://rootdig.blogspot.com/2014/11/complete-homestead-claims-lead-to-tract.html
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