Jack Gatlin Part 5

Jack Gatlin and his wife Alice Conerly Gatlin were homesteaders of land in Pike County, Mississippi. Jack Gatlin made homestead entry number 103.23 on July 1, 1880.   The requirement to obtain a land homestead was the final proof. Jack failed to file his proof before the expiration of the seven years after homestead entry.  Written notice was given in the Pike County, Mississippi newspaper The Magnolia Gazette for six publications from June 3, 1887 to July 9, 1887.

The actual reason for his failure to file is not given.    The county clerk however states as I have transcribed ”....he  is a colored man and uneducated and has to depend on others to illegible him in such matters, that he has acted in good faith of his homestead and has complied with the law as far as he was able to understand same. The promises considered he prays the department of public lands to allow illegible his final proof to be received and final receipt & patent issue to him…”

He successfully received his homestead of eighty acres  October 10, 1887.

----The Tree Gardener