Agness Benton – Lincoln County, Oklahoma

Homesteading patent issued to Agness Benton under William McKinley's presidency.

Government Land Office

Quick Facts

Significance:

Oklahoma Black Homesteader

Place of Birth:

Georgia

Date of Birth:

1865

Agness Benton was born in 1865 in Georgia following the end of the Civil War. She married John Benton. The Bentons resided in Chandler, Oklahoma in the early 1890s when they filed an application for a homestead with the General Land Office. They settled on 80 acres of land under the Homestead Act that was valued at $1.25 an acre or $100 in total land value. The land’s official location according to the General Land Office is the N1/2 of SE1/4 of Section One in Township 14N and Range Three East near Chandler, Lincoln County, Oklahoma.

John Benton submitted an application for a homestead in the fall of 1891, with the final Homestead Affidavit filed on October 16, 1891. Agness and John made several improvements to their land including the clearing of nearly 45 acres of timber for the purposes of cultivation, the building of a well and an orchard, a log stable, and a log house approximately 16ft by 18ft in size. The improvements made to their land was valued at about $300. The Benton family lived on the land from January 1892 until December 1898 when John Benton unexpectedly died.

Following the death of John Benton, Agness filed an application to retrieve the 80 acres of land with the General Land Office in Guthrie, Oklahoma on January 10, 1900, the same month her youngest daughter, Otilie was born. The process was quite tedious for the federal government to confirm Agness as the owner of the homestead. She provided several witnesses who testified on her behalf including, Jessie Lawson, Van Thomas, Henry Caldwell, and Elijah McCorcle—all residing in Chandler, Oklahoma. After a long process, the General Land Office approved Agness as the rightful owner of the land she and her husband had cultivated for several years and provided her with the official land document signed by President William McKinley.