WaKeeney Land Office Records

The U. S. Land Office was moved from Hays to WaKeeney in November 1879 by order of President Grover Cleveland.  President Cleveland appointed a man named Beard to head the land office. The land office was a great boon to WaKeeney since it brought a lot of people to town. Some homesteaded, and others started businesses in town.

Several months ago when the original records from the land office were ear-marked for disposal, representatives from Sheridan County Historical Society in Hoxie happened to be in the right place at the right time. They recognized the historic value of the documents from the late 1800's and took over guardianship of the old records. Jan Moore and her staff have been diligently sorting the records by county with the goal of placing them in the county where the land in the transactions is located. Last week Jan brought a box of them to Thomas County Historical Society.

It is not unusual for historical societies and museums to share documents and photographs in an attempt to get them archived in the county or area of their origin. 

Below are examples of the types of records in the collection:

 (click image to enlarge)

There are several hundred pages of these documents. It is going to take a while to catalog, scan and file all of them. When the task is completed it will be a fantastic addition to our documents archives. Once cataloged it will be possible to search them by date, legal description of the parcel of land, and by individuals names. Sounds like a genealogists dream.

 Jan Moore, director of Sheridan County Historical Society & Mickey Museum in Hoxie will be the guest speaker at our monthly "Food for Thought" program here at Prairie Museum at noon November 19, 2015. Donations are accepted for the meal and the programs are priceless!