Daniel Freeman — 1863, the First Homestead Claim

Just after midnight on January 1, 1863 — the very first hour the Homestead Act took effect — a Union Army scout named Daniel Freeman filed a claim at the federal land office in Brownville, Nebraska Territory, on 160 acres of prairie along Cub Creek near Beatrice. By long tradition he is counted as the first homesteader in the United States, the first of roughly 1.6 million people who would file claims under the 1862 law that gave away 270 million acres of the public domain.

The story of how he managed it is part of the legend: Freeman was a scout due to ship out with his regiment, and the land office would not open until January 1. He reportedly persuaded a clerk at a New Year’s Eve party to open the office a few minutes after midnight so he could file before he left. Whether or not every detail is exact, the General Land Office and the National Park Service have long recognized his entry as the first, and his claim became the site of Homestead National Historical Park.

Unlike most of the people whose stories this site tells, Freeman is the rare homesteader who actually proved up, prospered, and kept his land for the rest of his life. He returned from the war, married, raised a large family on the Cub Creek claim, farmed it for decades, and died on it in 1908. His widow Agnes lived on the homestead until her own death.

Freeman left one more mark on American life. Late in his life he sued to stop religious instruction in the local public school — and won. Freeman v. Scheve (1902) was a landmark Nebraska Supreme Court ruling on the separation of church and state, an unexpected legacy from the man who filed claim number one.