-
This spreadsheet of information about homestead claims in South Dade County covers the area from S.W. 184 St. south to the entrance to Everglades National Park and for 6 miles east and west of Krome Avenue. There are 659 homestead claimants listed, both men and women. In some cases, there is more than one entry for a claimant. That is because I have created an entry for each portion of the claim – not all claims were for the entire quarter-section. Doing so allows the claims to be sorted in a clockwise rotation order that makes it easier to see patterns. Not all of the claimants proved up their claims but it is quite interesting to look at the worksheets for each township and see how many times each claim changed hands. If you have an ancestor who proved up a homestead claim between 1896 and 1918, find their name in the Index and then consult the appropriate worksheet for further information about the claim. This data was taken from the manuscript tract book, which is available through Family Search. There are no doubt errors, both on the part of the person who made the entries and by myself. I did the best I could, deciphering the hard-to-read handwriting. In some cases, I made corrections to the spelling of the names. These worksheets are works in progress as I often find errors and correct them. If you have not downloaded the spreadsheet recently, I would advise you to do so as it may be different than what you have.
Download the Excel spreadsheet of homestead claim information.
The manuscript tract books for homesteading claims are available at Family Search. Use this document to help you find the right book and page number for the claimant you are looking for. If you are looking for confirmation of information and you have the section, township and range, volume 31 is for range 38, volume 32 is for range 39, volume 33 is for range 40 and volume 34 is for range 41.
Using the BLM Tract Books at Family Search
This pivot table, created by David Torcise, shows the number of homestead claims filed in South Dade County by year, starting in 1897:
Pivot Table of Homesteads in Homestead Area
Township-Range Maps for South Dade County:
Township 55 South Range 38 East
Township 55 South Range 39 East
Township 55 South Range 40 East
Township 56 South Range 38 East
Township 56 South Range 39 East
Township 56 South Range 40 East
Township 57 South Range 38 East
Township 57 South Range 39 East
Township 57 South Range 40 East
Township 58 South Range 38 East
Township 58 South Range 39 East
Township 58 South Range 40 East
Township 59 South Range 37 East
Township 59 South Range 38 East
Township 59 South Range 39 East
An easier way to find a particular parcel is to use the PLSS tool. The default location is Silver Palm. To view a different area of Miami-Dade County (or anywhere in the United States), just type in the location in the dialog box at the upper left corner. Zoom in to see more detail.
Another, easy to use resource is this one: Randy Majors Research Hub. It has ads but they are not terribly annoying. Yet.