Greeley County, Nebraska
1939 County History

The Homestead Act, under which so many persons became land owners in the west, was enacted in 1862 by Congress and provided that any person of the United States, head of family or 21 years of age, a citizen of the United States or who had announced his intention of becoming a citizen, was entitled to take a quarter section of land. Five years residence, the payment of certain fees, various improvements, and cultivation of the land, were require before final proof could be made and patent received from the government. To encourage, the settlement of westernlands, in 1873 the Act was enlarged, and concessions were made to soldiers and their dependents. Land could thereafter be acquired under a Preemption, the Homestead Act, a Timber claim, or a Soldier's Homestead.

The first claim in the county was that of Alcia P. Fish, who filed his papers in 1871, on a homestead in the southwestern part of the county.

In that same month and year a party arrived from Washara county, Wisconsin, to seek a location for a colony of Seventh Day Baptists. C. P. Rood, N. B. Prentice, Amos Travis and C. H. Wellman made up the party, and of the group only Mr. Rood returned a favorable report.

His reports were sufficiently glowing to impress his neighbors and friends, and in November of that same year he returned bringing with him to view the country, his brother, W. H. Rood, his son-in-law, Mansell Davis, and John Sheldon. Mr. Davis and Mr. Sheldon at this time filed upon land on the west side of the river, adjoining the Valley county line, November 6, 1871, being the first to file on land west of the river.

John Kellogg filed on a claim in the fall of 1871, north of the present town of Scotia; and in April, 1872, S. C. Scott, his wife and five daughters, Alonzo Shepard, wife and daughter, Maud, A. M. Stewart, together with Mr. Kellogg, established their homes in the neighborhood above Scotia.

Other settlers arrived to enlarge the settlement below the river, and a post office, known as Lamartine, was located there April 17, 1873, with A. P. Fish as postmaster.

In December of that year, Mr. and Mrs. James Wallace arrived and soon filed for land. Mrs. Wallace was the first white woman in the county.

More arrivals were the families of: A. J. Gillespie, Lewis F. Phillips, John V. Alderman, D. Benson, Oscar Babcock, W. Whiteford, Wm. Harris, Harvey Grosse, Fred Hitzman, Ben Mullenback, Thomas Townsley, T. C. Davis, George Hillman, L. C. Scott, E. B. Fish, James Harlow, G. Craig, Patrick Coyne, J. J. Bean, David Moore, Simon Bilyeau, George Small, Jessie Bilyeau, Horace Moore, Joshua Tolbert, Alfred Hillman, John Buchan, Al Baker, Elias Jeffries, George Rutherford, H. Colvin, John Daugherty, Hayden Brothers, Thomas Watson, John Vairy, Bennette Morse, Fred Meyer, David Locker, John Phillips, B. J. Griffith, Wm. Halpin, George Stubblefield, James Hamilton and Maurice and Richard Johnson

As the result of an Act Congress, passed in 1864, to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Coast and to secure to the government the use of the same for postal, military and other purposes. Authority was given to the "Burlington and Missouri railroad to extend its road through the territory of Nebraska. The grant included every alternate section of public land designated by odd numbers to the amount of ten alternate sections per mile on each side of the road of the line thereof, not sold, reserved or otherwise disposed of the United States, and to which preemption or homestead claim may not have been made.

One hundred eighty thousand acres of the land granted to the Burlington lay within the borders of Greeley county. The selection, operation and the sale was in charge of William Stieger, land agent for the railroad company.

Great tracts of these western lands were offered at an extremely low price to prospective settlers, from $1.25 to $1.50 per acre until the country began to settle up, when the prices advanced.

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