Inducements for Settlement - An impetus was given to settlement in Richardson County by a change in the land laws. In the year 1854, a settler could take one hundred and sixty acres and after living on it for six months, could buy it from the United States for one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre; this was called a pre-emption. In 1863, the homestead law went into effect. Under this a settler could take one hundred and sixty acres and have it free by living upon it for five years. In 1873 the timber claim act was passed. Under it one could get one hundred and sixty acres by planting ten acres of it in trees and taking care of it for eight years. All three of these laws were in force from 1873 to 1891 and under them a settler could, in a few years, get four hundred and eighty acres of land. The land in this County, however, was taken up very early and but little of it was left for the operation of the later land laws enacted in 1873.
Read About the Severe Winters of 1855 & 1856 Early Transportation in Richardson County
Back to History of Richardson County GoTo DelC's - Genealogy Site A Plainsman Tells His Story
You Are Visitor