Daniel Freeman (homesteader)
Daniel Freeman (April 26, 1826 – December 30, 1908) was an American homesteader and Civil War veteran. He was recognized as the first person to file a claim under the Homestead Act of 1862.
Freeman was also the plaintiff in a landmark separation of church and state decision.
Freeman was born in Preble County, Ohio, but was raised in Genesee County, New York, and Knox County, Illinois. While a young man, his family moved frequently, living in Iowa and Illinois and settling in Beatrice, Nebraska Territory. He was a graduate of a medical institute in Cincinnati, Ohio; and practiced medicine in Ottawa, Illinois. He enlisted in the 17th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Civil War.
On May 20, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act. This gave adults 160 acres (0.65 km2) of land if they filed paperwork and paid a small fee. The homesteader was required to build a 12x14 dwelling and farm the land for five years, or plant trees.
Although the land was cheap or free, many homesteaders did not last five years due to the blizzards, drought, grasshoppers, disease, and loneliness on the open prairies. January 1, 1863, was the day the Homestead Act went into effect. Freeman may have been a scouter for the Union Army, and said that he was leaving for St. Louis the morning of January 1, 1863, for military duty. Freeman convinced a clerk to open the land office just after midnight so he could file his claim.
When five years was up, the homesteader had to have two or three witnesses sign a document called "Proof Required Under Homestead Acts May 20, 1862 . . . " Daniel Freeman had his neighbors, Joseph Graff and Samuel Kilpatrick, sign this first document.
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