South Dakota and Settlement by Homesteaders

While there are only eight South Dakotans today to the square mile, many homesteaded the territory and state after the Homestead Act of 1862. About 270 million acres of land was claimed and settled under Lincoln's Homestead Act, including the 160 acres my Great-Grandfather claimed near Winner, Tripp County, South Dakota. One had to live on the land, build a home, make improvements, be at least 21 years of age, and farm for five years as well as a total of $18 in filing fees to own the land. In fact, the Homestead Act remained in effect until 1976 and Alaska was one of the last places that homesteading was an option.

My Great-Grandfather was very proud of his Homestead certificate, as it was signed by the President of the U.S. and demonstrated his years of struggle and sacrifice. The original is till kept in the family, even though Great- Grandpa left South Dakota for the farm lands and ministry calling here in Minnesota almost a century ago. The area he settled in has winds of an average of 25 mph year round- it just doesn't quit. He and his wife lost their three eldest children in a drowning incident in South Dakota that my Grandfather witnessed when he was eight and then had the terrible duty of runing home to tell his mother what had transpired. The local residents used barbed wire to drag for the bodies and a triple funeral was held several days later. The sorrow of this event haunted my Great-Grandmother, who was pregnant at the time- her daughter was born deaf and legally blind. Great-Grandma Koenig died eleven years later herself of cancer and a broken heart.