Katie Wilson 1910 Homestead Patent Data Entry Artifact

An analysis of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) General Land Office (GLO) Records regarding Katie Wilson’s 1910 homestead patent (Accession Number 104798) resolves the anomaly of her claim appearing to straddle two widely separated townships.

The BLM’s digital index lists two geographic locations for this single patent:

1. Highlands County: Township 33 South, Range 28 East, Section 30 (South Half of SW Quarter or South Half of Lots 1 and 2)
2. Hardee County: Township 33 South, Range 26 East, Section 30 (South Half of SW Quarter or South Half of Lots 1 and 2)

Geographic and geometric evidence confirms the Hardee County (Range 26 East) entry is a modern transcription artifact within the BLM system, rather than a historical reality, for the following reasons:

• Acreage Math: The patent specifies a total acreage of 80.28. The South Half of a quarter section is exactly 80 acres (the 0.28 accounts for fractional lots on the western edge of the PLSS township boundary where Section 30 lies). If Wilson held both parcels across two ranges, the acreage would be double.
• Geographic Impossibility: Township 33 South, Range 28 East (in Highlands County) and Township 33 South, Range 26 East (in Hardee County) are separated by a twelve-mile gap (Range 27 East lies between them). A single cohesive “South Half of SW Quarter” cannot span this distance.
• Typographical Error: The digit 8 and the digit 6 are visually similar, pointing to a transcription or keying error where the original Highlands County parcel (R28E) was erroneously duplicated as R26E during indexing.

Therefore, Katie Wilson’s actual 1910 homestead patent pertains exclusively to the 80.28 acres in Township 33 South, Range 28 East, near Avon Park.

References

• [104798] Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records. Patent Accession No. 104798 (Document No. 01910), issued 1910-01-20 to Katie Wilson.

Where this comes from

Evidence

corroborated — More than one independent source agrees.

Review

unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.

Rights

public-domain

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