Wilhelm Kirmse - Homestead Application

Homestead Application folder cover for Wilhelm Kirmse, March 21, 1904

Homestead Affidavit Receipt

Homestead Affidavit - Lots 2,3 & 4, SE1/4- NW1/4 of Section 19, in Township 20 W of Range 25 W I.M, 

Affidavit

Homestead Application  - Lots 2,3 & 4, SE1/4- NW1/4 of Section 19, in Township 20 W of Range 25 W I.M

Who

Wilhelm Kirmse

Story

From the National Archives copy of Wilhelm Kirmse's land entry file of Serial Patent Number 113523. Included here is the original patent application paperwork beginning March 21, 1904.

As noted in Wilhelm Kirmse's autobiography, a few days after their wedding, Wilhelm and Martha went by steamboat to St. Louis, Missouri and then by train to Woodward, Oklahoma.  There they connected with a land agent who took them in a horse drawn runabout (a light, open, horse-drawn vehicle with four large wheels - much like a buggy) over the open prairie looking for a quarter section of land to establish a home.  Finally after days of driving, the agent located a property.

"Instead of settling at Alva, they went to Shattuck where the land did not cost as much.  They took up a relinquished claim seven miles southeast [southwest] of Shattuck.  They paid Mr. and Mrs. Chris Pshigoda $1300 for the claim, which included the land, a sod house, 2 horses and a colt, 2 cows and a calf, 6 chickens and a wagon.  Everything was included but the homesteader's personal belongings."[1]

Date

March 21, 1904.  This was about five weeks after Wilhelm and Martha were married in Farrar, Missouri on February 11, 1904.

Location

Goodwin, Ellis County, Oklahoma - The Wilhelm Kirmse homestead was about 1 mile east Goodwin, Oklahoma and about 7 miles southwest of Shattuck, Oklahoma.

Ohio Township 20 North Range 25 of the Indian Meridian, Oklahoma - The Wilhelm Kirmse homestead is outlined in red.

Original Survey - Kirmse Homestead is Lots 2,3 & 4, SE1/4- NW1/4 of Section 19

Notes

1. KIRMSE, WILHELM (WILLIAM) family biography, from "Pioneer Footprints Across Woods County 1893-1975" by the Cherokee Strip Volunteer League,  1976. p.138.