Two land offices

After having done a late ride to this site the evening before, I rode here again the next morning. It was a bit out of my way and added extra miles for the ride to Piqua. I sort of regretted this detour by the end of the day. But it worked out OK in the end.

The road here follows the south boundary of the Wapakoneta Reservation. The land on the other side of the road had been ceded to the United States in the 1817 Treaty of St Mary’s. The land on the near side was a reservation that was “owned” by Shawnee people until 1832.

Both sides of the road are in Section 20, Clay Township, Auglaize County. Tonight I went to the Land Patent database at www.glorecords.blm.gov to see who the original purchasers were. I specified Auglaize County, Township 6 South, Range 7 East, Section 20. The result is shown above.

I didn’t find anything particularly interesting about any of the persons listed. The name Helmlenger is still shown as a landowner in the 1880 atlas, except it’s spelled Helminger there (as well as in the 1905 county history).

One point that surprised me a little is the Issue Dates on the patents. The lands that were purchased at the Lima land office were the lands outside the reservation. I would have expected those purchases to have been made well before those inside the reservation. But the patents for those lands were actually issued a couple of years later.

I don’t know the explanation, but one possibility is that the lands outside the reservation actually were purchased earlier, but that the General Land Office took a lot longer to process them than it did the ones from the Wapakoneta Reservation. It’s hard to say.

There are many times when I’ve wished the data on the purchase dates were easily available. This is one, though it’s not a matter of any great significance.