10. Oregon Land Donation Claim Notification

This image shows a certificate issued March 8, 1866, that grants 640 acres of land in Clackamas County to Thomas J. Chase and his wife, Nancy. The document cites the Donation Land Act of 1850 as the basis for the United States General Land Office patent. The act, which was signed into law by President Millard Fillmore on September 17, 1850, drew settlers to Oregon by the thousands. By the time the act expired on December 1, 1855, settlers in Oregon had filed for 7,437 patents that covered more than 2,500,000 acres of land.

Under the terms of the act, white and “half-breed” Indian male settlers over the age of 18 who were citizens or expressed the intention to attain citizenship on or before December 1, 1850, and who could also show that they had lived on and cultivated the claim for four consecutive years, were eligible to make a claim for a 320-acre parcel. If the man were married, or should become married by December 1, 1851, the couple would qualify for an additional 320 acres. In this case, husband and wife would have title to their respective half section.