The New Homestead Act of 1872

Congress' passage of the New Homestead Act of 1872 spurred new settlement in Kansas. The law permitted soldiers and sailors 160 acres or a quarter section of land. The claim needed to be proved within 6 months.This includes the family of John Finley VanHuss. The warranty deed to Daniel VanHuss and later transfers can be viewed in the Butler County Courthouse in El Dorado.

I have images of the deeds that need to be uploaded.

Read the Daily Eagle of  April 12, 1872. Look to the upper right hand column for a reprint of the Act.

 The New Homestead Act was patterned after the earlier act of 1862. Learn more about this act from the National Archives. (Image from the National Archives).

This article needs editing. There is little information online about the 1872 Act.

1900 Census Butler County Kansas, Hickory Township, John F. Van Huss

1. The 1900 US Census of Butler County Kansas showing John Finley Van Huss, his wife Jessie Brewer, and their three children - Beulah, Fred, and Luva.

2. The 1910 US Census of Sedgwick County, Rockford Township recording the family of John Finley Van Huss and his wife Jessie and  five children - adding Elmer and Lois to the existing brood.

Rockford Township is southeast of Wichita and includes the present day towns of Derby and Mulvane. The geographic center of the township is 95th St. South and Greenwich.

See the US GenWeb Census Project