Amanuensis Monday - Homestead Proof for Warren Haner (1873-1938)

Dear FOLKS,

It is always fun to transcribe a new type of document from our family's collection of originals. Today I am working with one item within a land entry file. A land entry file is a collection of completed forms and other documents related a piece of Public Land that was offered and now claimed to become a homestead . Family historians will request a copy various Land Entry Files from the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C. These files are important to a historian for the riches they contain family history.

The land file I am discussing today contains 23 pages. The file for an eighty-acre section of land in Spring Lake Township in Ward county, North Dakota. The applicant is Warren Warner Haner, one of my paternal great-grandfathers. Today I want to share with you one page from within this land entry file, It is a Homestead Proof document. In my opinion Proof documents have the highest amount of genealogical information, more so than most other pages within the land file.

There can be any number of Proof Documents within a land file, usually one for each of the claimant's witnesses and one for the claimant him/herself. This number may depend on the homesteading requirements at the time. Today I will transcribe the Testimony of Claimant provided by Warren himself as it claims more family related information. And I think you'll enjoy it too.

This document is a fill-in-the-blanks form. I'll type the handwritten entries in red and any of my comments will be in square-brackets [ ].

IMAGE: Page 1 of Homestead Proof -
Testimony of Claimant by Warren
Warner Haner, part of file #55145.[1]

IMAGE: Page 2 of Homestead Proof -
Testimony of Claimant by Warren
Warner Haner, part of file #55145.[2]

-------- transcription begins --------

[page one]

4—369
117543
0829

HOMESTEAD PROOF—TESTIMONY OF CLAIMANT

Warren Warner Haner, being called as a witness in his own behalf in support of homestead entry No. 41770, for W1/2 NE1/4 Sec 17 Tp 151 R84 testifies as follows:

Ques. 1—What is your name, age and postoffice address?
Ans. Warren Warner Haner age 34 yrs Douglas ND

Ques. 2—Are you a native-born citizen of the United Stated, and if so, in what State or Territory were you born?
Ans. Yes  Iowa

Ques. 3—Are you the identical person who made homestead entry, No. 41770, at the Minot ND land office on the 21 day of May, 1906 and what is the true description of the land now claimed by you?
Ans. Yes. W1/2 NE1/4 Sec 17 Tp 151 R84

Ques. 4—When was your house built on the land and when did you establish actual residence therein? (Describe said house and other improvements which you have placed on the land, giving total value thereof.)
Ans. July 10, 1906. House 14x16 built of lumber shingle roof  good floor value $150\  Barn 14x18 built of lumber " [value] 75\  Well 14 ft deep value $25\  Pasture 28 acres fenced $50\  15 acres broke $100\  Total value $400\

Ques. 5—Of whom does your family consist : and have you and your family resided continuously on the land since first establishing a residence thereon? (If unmarried state the fact.)
Ans. Myself, wife and three children  I resided continuously

Ques. 6—For what period or periods have you been absent from the homestead since making settlement, and for what purpose ; and if temporarily absent, did your family reside upon and cultivate the land during such absence?
Ans, I left in fall 1906 and went to S. Dak to get my family and horses and machinery and returned April 30, 1907 and since April 30, 1907 I was not absent

Ques. 7—How much of the land have you cultivated each season, and for how many seasons have you raised crops thereon? If used for grazing only, describe fencing, state number and kind of stock grazed and by whom owned.
Ans. 1907— 6 acres 1908—15 acres  Raised 2 crops  Fence built of 2 wire posts age one rod apart. 8 head of cattle, 4 head horses owned by myself

Ques. 8—Is your present claim within the limits of an incorporated town or selected site of a city or town, or used in any way for trade of business?
Ans. No

Ques. 9—What is the character of the land? Is it timber, mountinous, prairie, grazing, or ordinary agricultural land? State is kind and quality, and for what purpose it is most valuable.
Ans.—Rolling.  Most valuable for grazing   part farming

Ques. 10—Are there any indications of coal, salines or minerals of any kind on the land? (If so, describe what they are and state whether the land is more valuable for agricultural that for mineral purposes.)
Ans.—No

Ques. 11—Have you ever made any other homestead entry? (Is so, describe the same.)
Ans.—No

Ques.12—Have you sold, conveyed, or mortgaged any portion of the land; and if so, to whom and for what purpose?
Ans.—No

Ques. 13—Have you any personal property of any kind elsewhere than on this claim> (If so, describe the same, and state where the same is kept.)
Ans.—No

Ques. 14—Describe by legal subdivisions, or by number, kind of entry and office where made, any other entry or filing (not mineral), made by you since August 30, 1890.
Ans.—I did not file elsewhere

I have given the above testimony without any actual knowledge of any statement made in the testimony of wither of the others.

(Sign plainly with full christian name)  Warren Warner Haner

*(In case the party is of foreign birth a certified transcript from the court records of his declaration of intention to become a citizen, or of his naturalization, or a copy thereof, certified by the officer taking this proof, must be filed with the case. Evidence of naturalization is only required in final five-year homestead cases.)

[page two]

I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing testimony was read to the claimant before being subscribed, and was sworn to before me this 18 day of September, 1908, at my office at Max in McLean County, ND

[See note below.]        [signed] HR Freitag
                        [stamped] U.S. Commissioner,
                               for Dist. of N. Dak.

NOTE—The officer before whom the testimony is taken should call the attention of the witness to the following section of the Revised Statutes, and state to him that it is the purpose of the Government, if it be ascertained that he testifies falsely, to prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law.

Sec. 5392. Every person who, having taken an oath before a competent tribunal, officer or person, in any case in which a law of the United States authorizes an oath ro be administered, that he will testify, declare, depose or certify truly, or that any written testimony, declaration, deposition, or certificate by him subscribed is true, willfully and contrary to such oath states or subscribes any material matter which he does not believe to be true, is guilty of perjury, and shall be punished by a fine of not more than two thousand dollars, and by imprisonment, at hard labor, no more that five years, and shall, moreover, thereafter be incapable of giving testimony in any court of the United States until such time as the judgment against him is reversed. (See § 1750.)

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If you are interested in the additional pages from this document, please contact me.

This document also contains a clearly digitized copy of Warren's signature. I enjoy seeing how my ancestry's wrote. In Warren's case, His name is very easy to decipher, as if he was sensitive to having his name easily identified.  Here is his signature enlarged for you to see.

Sources:

1.) Minot, North Dakota, Land Office, Cash Entry Files. Record Group 49: Records of the Bureau of Land Management. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Land Entry File for Warren Warner Haner, Serial Patent Number: 55145.

2.) Ibid.

Amanuensis Monday is a weekly blog theme that was started by John Newmark, the author of TransylvanianDutch blog. John defines Amanuensis as "A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another." I also appreciate the good work and format examples of San Diego genealogist Randy Seaver of the blog Genea-musings. Thanks guys.

Transcribing helps me to learn what a document contains. I have learned over time that I have a tendency to "skim" over an item; a bad trait for a researcher who needs to learn even the smallest details documented records contain. Transcribing helps me to slow down and "smell the roses," and to capture all aspects of the paper in hand.

Wishing you a good day and a great week. It's a pleasure to have you stop by.

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