Dominic Dongilli is the Historian and Cultural Resources Specialist at Homestead National Historical Park near Beatrice. He talked about the Homestead Records available at the monument.
The Homestead Act provided for the largest land transfer from the US Government to individuals in history. Homesteads were available in 27 states and were available to 18 year old Head of Households. He told the story of Mary Myer, the first woman to receive a homestead in Gage County in 1863. (25% of Homesteaders were women).
He showed us the software program that anyone can use at the Park to search for homesteader information and how to use the program for ancestry and search for documents.
Thank you to Tom and Syd for the write up input!
BIO
Dominic Dongilli is the Historian and Cultural Resources Specialist at Homestead National Historical Park, one of approximately 430 sites of the National Park Service dedicated to preserving the cultural and natural resources of the United States. He received his PhD in American cultural history at the University of Iowa and previously worked as a Research Fellow at the Smithsonian Libraries & Archives in Washington, D.C.,