One ancestor that had a homestead was my grandmother, Elva Bryant. For years after her mother died, my grandmother lived with family and friends and never really had a home of her own. When she finally had her land and her cabin, I often wondered how she felt when she stepped through the door of her new home and knew it was really her very own place.
From what I remember, grandma homesteaded the property before she was married. She was married in 1928. Her land was located in Delta County, Colorado, and I believe it was located on Peach Valley Road. My grandparents and their daughter, Barbara, lived there in 1930. My grandparents raised sheep on their 640-acre homestead.
According to my mom and other family members, my grandfather had a jealous ex-girlfriend who burned down my grandmother’s cabin. When my aunt was born in February, the family lived in a tent, and my tiny aunt slept in a shoe box.
According to the paperwork from the Denver Land Office, it appeared that she received new paperwork, which makes sense if her cabin went up in smoke. The new title listed the claim for “Elva Allen, formerly Elva Bryant,” and the dates were recorded as 11 Apr 1934.
Eventually, grandma sold her land, and my grandparents moved to Roger’s Mesa in Hotchkiss, Colorado. My grandfather was born there, and most of his family still resided in the area. My grandparents continued to raise sheep on their new land, and my grandfather also trained and traded horses.
Oh and on a side note, the locals often called Roger’s Mesa, Allen’s Mesa because so many of the Allen clan lived in this area.
Lamb Phot0 Courtesy of Rob Long @ Unsplash https://unsplash.com/collections/944557/sheep-and-lambs?photo=aJvSX36kweg
Source
Ancestry.com. 1930 US Federal Census Records | Ancestry, Ancestry.com., 2002, search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=6224.
Tales of a Family 
I wonder what became of the crazy ex-girlfriend after the fire?
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I always asked that question too…no one had an answer…I have searched newspapers, but haven’t found anything..yet.
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With you on the trail she will be found. 🙂
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lol..hope so!
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Thanks for this interesting post! You have made me wonder about homesteading in my own family. I’ve never heard that term used in my family before. I think maybe they mostly came too late for the area they settled in (mainly Michigan and Illinois).
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During the Westward Expansion, I had family members that moved from Macomb County, Michigan and moved to Montgomery County, Kansas. My grandmother was born in Kansas and her mother and grandfather moved to Colorado when she about 15 months old. Later, she found land in Colorado too. My grandfather’s family had homesteads in Colorado too. This has been a fun journey, preserving family stories for my family.
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I guess my relatives didn’t move farther west until it was “too late”! How fun for you!
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Well, I was lucky because my family kept the stories alive, and now, I want too share them with my kids.
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Yes, we were both blessed to inherit what we did from our families!
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It’s so great that you have so many family stories and so much information compiles. We did have family who had a farm in Kentucky, which is where my great-grandparents took my grandma and her sisters at the beginning of the Depression.
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I am grew up on stories, and now, my grandchildren want to hear the stories too. I knew it was time to start preserving those memories.
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