Women Homesteaders and Genealogy (BONUS webinar for subscribers)

The passage of the 1862 Homestead Act provided women a unique opportunity to own land in their own right. The husband was presumed to be the head of a family, so married women were not eligible, but unmarried women—single, widowed, divorced, abandoned—could apply for their chance at independence. Combining the genealogical gems in their homestead entries with other records, we will follow the lives of three remarkable women whose stories may differ, but who shared a dream--the dream of owning land in their own name.