On January 1, 1863, Daniel Freeman became the first American to file a homestead claim for land under the Homestead Act of 1862. The act required a series of steps, such as improving a plot of land and living on it for five years, before the homesteader could gain ownership of the 160 acres he claimed. After initiating his claim on January 1, 1863, Freeman received his ownership certificate on January 20, 1868.
Daniel Freeman and 417 others had filed claims on January 1st. Many more pioneers followed, populating the land, building towns and schools and creating new states from the territories. By 1934, over 1.6 million homestead applications were processed and more than 270 million acres—10 percent of all U.S. lands—passed into the hands of individuals.
