Homesteading in Minnesota – A Poor Illiterate Irish Miner Gets Land

Jeremiah Sullivan, born in Ireland about 1811, brought his family to the United States sometime in the 1860s.[1] The first place Jeremiah, his wife, Mary, and four of their sons, including the youngest born in Michigan the year before, is found is in Franklin Township in Houghton County, Michigan in 1870. He was a miner who could not read or write.[2]

Michigan produced most of the nation’s copper and the copper mining drew miners from all over the world.[3] In 1870, 57 percent of the residents in Houghton County were foreign-born and over two thousand in Franklin Township came from Ireland.[4] It is likely Jeremiah mined copper in both Ireland and Michigan.

On 27 March 1873, he applied for a homestead in Todd County, Minnesota at the land office in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The total acreage was 80 acres. He signed his name with a mark, a small, dark, x.[5]

What brought him to Minnesota, a distance of 375 miles from his home in Michigan? How did a man who could not read and write know to move his family to a new state? The three older sons, the oldest 14, attended school, so perhaps they read the newspaper to their father. Newspapers had articles about the 1862 Homestead Act, explaining the law and the requirements needed to obtain the patent. However, I could not locate any newspapers for the years he was in Houghton County on online websites, but I found a possible paper Portage Lake Mining Gazette published between 1864 and 1899.[6]

Getting Homestead Land
What did Jeremiah have to do to obtain the land through the Homestead Act? His land entry file from the National Archives gives the details. He filed for the land on 27 March 1873 at the St. Cloud, Minnesota Land Office. He had to pay a small fee of $14.[7]

He settled on the land three days later. He took up residence after he built his home, which was finished on 14 April 1873, and lived on it continuously until 20 February 1879. His log house was described as 15 by 20 feet, board roof, one door, three windows, and 2 floors. He had a cellar, a log stable that was 16 x 24 feet with a straw roof, and a well. He felt his improvements were worth $300. He broke twelve acres and planted grain and vegetables.[8]  

Two other witnesses, James Whitford and Colm Priestly, also testified about his residence on the land. Before he could receive his patent, he had to show he had started the naturalization process by making an intent to naturalize or show that he was already naturalized. His naturalization paper, was issued at the Seventh Judicial District in Todd County on 20 February 1879.

He added another 80 acres on 10 May 1879 which was added to his total homestead acreage and his patent was awarded on 16 Aug 1882.[9] He made the application at Long Prairie in Todd County before the clerk at the District Court, because he said he could not go to St. Cloud as the distance being over 60 miles.[10]

He continued to live on this land with his wife until his death on 6 December 1888.[11]

#52Ancestors-Week 39: Homestead

This is my seventh year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe.

I write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

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[1] No record of a ship listing has been located for any of Jeremiah’s family. His tombstone in Motley Public Cemetery in Todd Co, Minn. states birth year as 1911. See Find A Grave, (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/74707993/jerry-sullivan), memorial# 74707993, Motley Public Cemetery, Jerry Sullivan, photo by Jim Childers. Tombstone gives age at death.

[2] 1870 US census, Houghton Co, Michigan, Franklin Township, p. 22, family 162, Jeremiah Sullivan; NARA M593, roll 674.

[3] “Houghton County History,” https://houghtoncounty.net/history.php.

[4] 1870 US census, Houghton Co, Michigan, Franklin Township. Searched at Ancestry.com for “born in Ireland, lived in Franklin, Houghton County, Michigan, and occupation miner.” NARA M593, roll 674.

[5] Homestead application no. 7874, Jerrey Sullivan, St. Cloud, Minnesota Land Office, 27 March 1875, homestead file bearing final certificate no.4462, St. Cloud, Minn. Land Office; Land Entry Papers, 1800-1908; Record Group 49: Records of the Bureau of Land Management; National Archives, Washington, DC.

[6] “About Portage Lake mining gazette,” Chronicling America (https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016611/).

[7] Homestead Receiver’s Receipt, Homestead application no. 7874, Jerrey Sullivan, St. Cloud, Minnesota Land Office, 27 March 1875, homestead file bearing final certificate no.4462, St. Cloud, Minn. Land Office; Land Entry Papers, 1800-1908; Record Group 49: Records of the Bureau of Land Management; National Archives, Washington, DC.

[8] “Homestead Proof, Testimony of Claimant,” application 7874, 20 Feb 1879, Jerry Sullivan (Todd County, Minn) homestead file bearing final certificate no.4462, St. Cloud, Minn. Land Office; Land Entry Papers, 1800-1908; Record Group 49: Records of the Bureau of Land Management; National Archives, Washington, DC.

[9] St. Cloud, Minnesota, Land Office Tract Book, vol. 75, p. 74, Township 133 North, Range 32 West, Section 10, W2 SE4 & E2 SE4, Jerry Sullivan, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89W3-39S1-J?i=74), IGN 007116841, image 75 of 251; citing US Bureau of Land Management tract books, Minnesota, vol. 75.

[10] “Homestead Affidavit,” application 10462, 29 Apr 1829, Jerry Sullivan (Todd County, Minn) homestead file bearing final certificate no.5194, St. Cloud, Minn. Land Office; Land Entry Papers, 1800-1908; Record Group 49: Records of the Bureau of Land Management; National Archives, Washington, DC.

[11] "Killed By the Cars," Motley (Minnesota) Register, 8 Dec 1888, p. 5, col. 3. 

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