A bit of a misnomer appears on the website of the history of Birmingham,
in terms of land sales in Van Buren County, as well as a couple of
typographical errors.
The county was organized in 1836, as a block of land carved out of the Black
Hawk Strip, which had "opened for settlement" on June 1, 1833. The
only problem presented to buyers was, that government land sales had not yet
been set up in that part of the country.
Officially, land has to be surveyed and registered before the government can
sell off portions to citizens. People were pouring into the area,
first a part of Michigan Territory, then organized as part of Wisconsin
Territory, and finally Iowa Territory.
No surprise...the government has always been slow to act. The military
had been very successful in keeping settlers out of this vast region before
June 1, 1833. They patrolled the area near the borders. When
they discovered violaters, they confiscated their possessions, burned
whatever buildings had been constructed, and chased them back into Missouri
or Illinois.
After the territory was opened for settlement, it was much harder to stem
the tide of immigration as people wouldn't wait for government bureaucracy
to take hold. It was important to get into the territory fast and grab
some land before speculators purchased all the choice parcels.
As was the case in other parts of the country, speculators swarmed in to
grab up properties they in turn could sell at huge profit. They would
often loan settlers money to buy properties, charging them exceedingly high
interest. To protect settlers and prevent these unfortunate
happenings, the government fell back onto an old custom--that of preemption
of land.
Preempting land dates back to December, 1602. In simplist terms, it
gives the purchaser the right to buy land before others. The right is
given to an actual settler who then takes residence or makes improvements on
a piece of public land.
Surveying of Van Buren County happened during the summer of 1837 and into
early 1838. When this task was finally completed throughout the
territory, government land sales and auctions legally began. The
nearest government land office was set up in Burlington, and sales began in
December, 1838.
The auctions brought settlers or representatives of the settlers from each
region as the land in their township came up for bid. Each parcel was
called out. In case of registered claims, if no speculator or other
settler bid on the land as it was called out, the person occupying the land
was issued the deed of ownership as per the going government price of $1.25
per acre.
Through the method of preemption, in most cases the person occupying the
land had purchased his claim from a bonifide government agent who operated
his business and was paid by the U.S. government. To prevent
speculators from buying the land out from under the settler who had
preempted the land, claim clubs were formed or community leaders attended
the auction in solid force as a means of protection. There was still
much unclaimed land for which speculators could buy and make a huge
profit.
Most of the villages of Van Buren County had already been established long
before official land sales and auctions. In each case, a
representative was chosen who had a list of registered property dwellers,
and each was issued a legal deed in due time.
People should take care in assuming that everyone who bought land in the
county before December, 1838 was a speculator. Preemptors of land were
sometimes speculators, but in the majority of cases these original settlers
bought their land legally according to the loophole in the system that the
government provided.
Preemption laws were designed to favor the settler or person who occupied
public land. The stipulation was simple: the preemptor had to provide
improvements. Since "improvements" wasn't spelled out in exact detail,
clearing of land, erecting a "lean-to" shanty, or making a claim pen of logs
usually was enough to qualify. Surveyors made note of those occupying
land who "had made improvements."
When the surveyors came through the Keosauqua area during the summer of
1837, my ancestors Susanna and Asahel Fellows moved into their claim house
which as yet had no windows, doors or floor....just to be on the safe side,
to show that they were occupying their claim.
Asahel had paid agent Anson $800 for a 700-acre parcel in the fall of 1836,
more than two years before the official land sale took place.
Thousands of other Iowa settlers bought their land in similar fashion.