Whitman County Genealogical Society
is hosting a FREE Spring mini-seminar
Bishop Place Independent Living Social Room,
811 SE Klemgard St., Pullman, WA
Saturday, April 26, 2025
Welcome ROBERT KING
“Privatizing America: Homesteading in the USA 1862-1988 – and more!”
9:00 am: The doors open.
9:30 am – 10:30 am: Focus of Robert King’s presentation: The USA includes about 2.27 billion acres of land of which about 60% are privately owned. Robert’s talk looks at how this came about,
which was largely under various federal laws starting just after American independence. He will focus on some of the major types of federal legislation under which land transferred into private ownership, including various homestead laws, the 1820 Sale-Cash Act, the Timber Culture Act, the Desert Land Act, Bounty Land Acts, and more. He will both discuss requirements of the laws and give examples of real stories about people who obtained land under those laws.
10:30 am – 10:45 am: Break and refreshments
10:45 am – 11:45 am: The second part of Robert’s presentation will include examples of how some of Pullman became privately owned and what details can be found in federal records significant for enriching the stories of some of the town’s first settlers. He will look more closely at a few examples
of homestead documents (and other early land documents) from Whitman County, including the Pullman area. He will have examples of original homestead certificates and other types of early federal land transfer documents available for viewing.
There will be a time for questions at the end of each session.
Please RSVP to Sue or whitmancgs@gmail.com by April 10 to accommodate handouts and refreshments.
The seminar is free, but donations are welcome at the door.
Directions: Turn off Bishop Boulevard onto Klemgard St., follow Klemgard St. up the hill, and turn left at the top. Do not go into the front entrance, but turn right, continue up the hill, and turn left at the white carports. Find an appropriate parking place, enter
the building through the main doors there, and go straight ahead to the Social Room.
Seminar flyer
