Lambert: Feds Did 'Land Office Business' When Selling Property to Settlers

Purchasing land here in the 1820s did not involve an appointment with a local real estate agent or lengthy negotiations between the buyer and seller. 

When Illinois achieved statehood in 1818, most of the land north of present-day Springfield was still owned by the federal government. At the dawn of the 19th century, the southern areas of the new state were most populated. Much of the territory within the newly established state boundaries was sparsely occupied except by long-established Indian tribes.

The Inquiry

How did the first pioneers acquire their land?

The Facts

Early land acquisition was a fast-paced and, at times, confusing process during the mid-1820s and early 1830s. Complicated by Indian treaties and military land grants to veterans of the War of 1812, much of Illinois’ public lands had not been surveyed ahead of the arrival of the first pioneer settlers.

To facilitate the disposal of public lands, the federal government established centralized offices that administered the sale of land in large districts. In the early 1820s, the northernmost district land office was located in Springfield.

After 1818, government-owned public lands could be acquired on a credit system. However, that complex system was flawed, and the practice was discontinued after a short time.  

Federal legislation passed in July 1820 required full payment, in cash, at the time of sale. The minimum purchase was 80 acres at a price of $1.25 per acre. The cash requirement eliminated settlers who did not have substantial financial resources of their own or access to willing investors.

The Rush To Acquire Land

By the mid-1820s, pioneers were entering northeastern Illinois at a steady pace. However, government property could not be sold until it had been surveyed, mapped and legally described. 

Throughout northern and central Illinois, surveys were initiated. The grid surveys were completed in one-mile square sections. Where government surveys had not been completed, some courageous pioneers, known as “squatters,” began to enter the uncharted Illinois frontier. 

Between 1821 and 1822, a narrow, 20-mile wide strip of land, including the land where exists, was surveyed. By the time the survey work was completed, a district land office had been established in Springfield for the sale of public lands north of the Illinois River. However, land within the surveyed corridor was not offered for sale until a route for a proposed canal could be established.

Once the canal route was determined, pioneer settlers rushed to claim the most desirable land and register those claims with the district land office in Springfield and, later, Danville, then Chicago. Tracts that were heavily timbered were highly valued.

Squatters were granted the first right to own the land — as long as they could prove they had occupied a specific claim before the land was offered for purchase by the federal government. The entitlement was known as pre-emption rights.

American settlement intensified across northern Illinois after 1832, and efforts to claim frontier lands increased significantly. At that time, pre-emption rights were expanded. Squatters who had cultivated their land in 1829 were allowed to purchase up to 160 acres.

Through the 1830s, conflicting claims for the same tracts of land were not uncommon. Some land purchasers — particularly speculators from the East — never saw the land before they had acquired it. When conflicting claims occurred, a pioneer typically accepted a nearby tract of land.

But when disputes could not be resolved amicably, the agents of the district land offices were charged with resolving the claims. Typically, affidavits from other settlers were necessary to resolve the claims. At times, land disputes led to bitter, local rivalries that endured for years.

Inefficiency, Frustration

The demand for land often overwhelmed the government-operated district land offices. It was not uncommon that, on the morning of a scheduled land sale, long lines of hopeful pioneers formed outside of the offices, hours before they opened.

To meet the growing demand of pre-emption settlers and a new wave of pioneers entering northern Illinois, a land office was established at Danville in early 1831. One year later, Congress reduced the minimum purchase requirement to just 40 acres. In June 1834, the Northeastern Land Office was established at Chicago to meet the ever-increasing demand for land.

Although district land offices were responsible for recording sales of land, the federal government was charged with issuing the formal documentation of ownership. Land patents, signed by the president of the United States, were the official record of the transfer from the federal government to private individuals.

However, due to demand and inefficiency, land patents were not issued for three or more years and in some cases the wait was as long as 10 years after an application was made. Before some land patents were issued, some pioneers had moved to other places and others died while waiting. In those cases, original owners transferred their rights to an agent, family member or friend.

A Lasting Impression

By the mid-1850s, most of the public lands in Illinois were sold, and the district offices were closed. Remaining parcel sales were consolidated in Springfield.

By that time, the phrase “doing a land office business” had been incorporated into common usage in America. The expression described any thriving and, particularly, booming business. 

Alluding to the throng of applicants hoping to purchase public lands at government land offices, this still-popular phrase characterized the rush to acquire land in northeastern Illinois in the early 19th century.