Thousands of women took advantage of the Homestead Act of 1862 that offered free federal land in the United States. Women who were single, widowed, divorced, or deserted were eligible to acquire 160 acres of federal land in their own name. A married woman was not allowed to take land in her own name unless she was considered the head of the household. Millions of married women, daughters, and other female family members assisted their families in proving up on their homesteaders. While their name wasn't on the paperwork, they were part of the homesteading experience too.
Every story of homesteading is different. Many homesteading women were young, single, and interested in adventure and of economic gain. Some women homesteaded land to help the family expand their acreage. Others were widows with children to support; the homestead provided them with an economic opportunity often denied them elsewhere. Women who claimed homesteads often worked outside of the homestead as well. Many pursued careers as teachers, nurses, seamstresses, and domestic workers.
Just like their male counterparts, those who achieved economic success used their resources in a variety of ways. Some stayed on their homestead and accumulated additional land. Others sold their holdings and invested elsewhere.
Women homesteaders and the Homestead Act helped lead the way to women’s suffrage. Homesteading women created an atmosphere where ideas about women’s rights could flourish. More than 100,000 women received land in their own name under the Homestead Act, paying taxes on their land – leading many to raise the cry “no taxation without representation!” as they pushed for the vote.
Stories of Female Homesteaders
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 In 1921, Otero-Warren ran for federal office, campaigning to be the Republican Party nominee for New Mexico to the US House of Representatives. She won the nomination, but lost the election by less than nine percent. She remained politically and socially active, and served as the Chairman of New Mexico’s Board of Health; an executive board member of the American Red Cross; and director of an adult literacy program in New Mexico for the Works Projects Administration.  Born December 7, 1873, in Virginia, Willela Sibert Cather grew up on the dusty plains of Red Cloud, Nebraska. Her life took her across the country, and she would become one of the premiere American authors of the 1900s.  Marie Equi was born in 1872 in New Bedford. A homesteader in Oregon, Marie became a physician and activist. Equi was placed in charge of obstetrics at the United States Army General Hospital in the Presidio of San Francisco. She was subsequently decorated by the U.S. Army for her humanitarian efforts.  Born Margareeta Johanna Konttra Niiranen in Tornio, Finland, in 1861, Maggie Walz came to the United States at the age of twenty. After arriving in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, she took a job as a domestic servant for the Jacob Ojanpera family in Oskar, near Houghton. Walz had other aspirations, however.  Rachel Bella Calof’s autobiographical account of life on the homestead tells the hardships endured by both women and immigrants during U.S. expansion. Feeling that homesteading was their best opportunity to succeed in America, Rachel and Abraham journeyed to the region near Devils Lake, North Dakota to become homesteaders. Over the next 23 years, she and her husband carved out a life for themselves on the North Dakota prairie.  Lucretia Marshbanks was one of the first black women to venture to the Black Hills of South Dakota. She was a cook, boarding house manager, hotel owner, and ranch owner. This determined and enterprising woman left such an impact on the area that a character in the HBO series Deadwood was inspired by her.  Frances Lawton Keys was part of a wave of Anglo pioneers who came to the arid Southern California desert in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, patching together a variety of ventures on public domain land.  The life of Lucinda J. Davis and her family is intertwined with the North Cascades region. Her love of the wilderness and desire for independence drew her to the region in the late nineteenth century.  On January 11, 1901, Harriet Branum Johnson proved up her homestead at the same Guthrie, Oklahoma Land Office where her husband George W. Johnson had applied for it in 1893. America Hunt was born into slavery in Kentucky in approximately 1820. America was a widow when she filed for a homestead on 39.35 acres of land under the Homestead Act of May 20, 1862.
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