When America was being settled, most of the land west of the Appalachian Mountains was owned by the government. It was in the government’s interest to sell the land, not only for cash, but to press settlement, and thus extending America’s interests farther west. You could outright purchase land, but they would also provide incentive for soldiers to fight in the wars by giving them varying amounts of land of their choice. A typical soldier could receive 120 acres of the land of his choosing (assuming it wasn’t already owned of course), or if he didn’t want to move and settle land, he could sell it to someone else who would in turn pick and settle some land.
(document below on the left)
Thus was the case with Carl Buse. In 1861, in Goodhue county, Carl exercised a solder’s claim to 120 acres that he has purchased from him at some point in time. The solder was a Private Armand Lefils in Captain Marshall’s Company of Georgia Militia in the War of 1812. Nothing is known of what Carl paid to Armand for his warrant, as that was a private transaction between the two of them.
The land description really sounds confusing, and I will try to break this down, but if you bear with the explanation, then look at the map that is attached it will all make sense. It’s the East half of the North East quarter, and the North West quarter of the North East quarter of Section 33 in township one hundred and twelve, north of Range fifteen West in the district of lands subject to the sale at Henderson, Minnesota containing one hundred and twenty acres.
What County and Township is this in?
This really isn’t too difficult, and I could walk up to this exact piece of land today. All counties are broken into townships, and those townships are numbered based upon longitudes, called meridians. With a map that I won’t go into, the text of ‘’ in township one hundred and twelve, north of Range fifteen West in the district of lands subject to the sale at Henderson, Minnesota containing one hundred and twenty acres.’’ Refers to Featherstone township in Goodhue County. If you look at the attached map, you will see this description at the top.
What section of the township is this in?
In each township, each section (square mile) is numbered, starting from the NE corner of the township, going west, usually 6 miles, then drop a mile down, and number back to the east and repeat the process, most townships are made up of 36 square miles. So Carl purchased land in section 33, so now we know what section (square mile) of the township his land is in.
Where exactly in the section is the land?
In describing a section of land, it always described in halves or quarters, unless you are getting down to lots in a town. So, he received (purchased, as he bought it from Armand, but didn’t have to pay the government anything, Armand could have received it free) two pieces of land totally 120 acres. One of them was East half of the North East quarter. So, if you divide this section or square mile, into four squares, and look at the North East quarter, he has the East half of that. As there are 640 acres in a square mile, thus 160 acres in a quarter, and he bought half of that quarter, so he bought 80 acres. The other piece is in the NW quarter of the NE quarter, so if we look at the NE quarter of the section, then taking that quarter and dividing into yet four more quarters, the NW corner was the final 40 acres, to total 120. If you look at the land, they are actually connected forming sort of an ‘L’ pieced shape of ground.
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