Genealogy Jottings

In the past, a squatter was someone who settled on public land without legal authority. Many squatters settled in southeast Kansas around 1870 on lands within the Osage Diminished Reserve. The most famous of these was probably Charles Ingalls, father of the writer Laura Ingalls Wilder. The squatters had to leave in 1871.

My ancestor Samuel Reed lived in southeastern Kansas in Neosho County during this time period, and he also left in 1871. Because of the strong correlation in the time lines for the  Ingalls family and my own, I wondered whether Sam was a squatter, too. I searched for Kansas historic maps and ordered the land records from Neosho County.

From the maps, I learned that Neosho County was outside the Osage Diminished Reserve. This area officially approved for settlement was called the Osage Ceded Lands. Sam’s name appeared in the county records. Strangely, I could not find a record of how he acquired his property, but he did convey it by warranty deed when he left Kansas and returned to Illinois. Apparently, he was not a squatter.

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