500,000 Acre Grant. No. [402]. State of Wisconsin. To all to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting
![500,000 Acre Grant. No. [402]. State of Wisconsin.](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/421/521/1702521421.0.x.jpg)
- SIGNED
- 1856
1856. A very good copy.. 1 sheet. 13 x 8 1/4 inches. Land patent as "a part of the 500,000 acres granted by Congress, September 4, 1841" as a provision of the Preemption Act of 1841, which granted 500,000 acres to each new state admitted to the Union. The document specifies the land as "The North East quarter containing One Hundred and Sixty (160) Acres - of Section number Thirty Five in Town Seventeen North of Range Four West". Though the name of the recipient is crossed out on the front of the document, the name appears on the verso as William Kennon.
The patent is dated the April 1, 1856 and signed by the Governor, Coles Bashford and the Secretary of State,"D.M. Jones".
Coles Bashford (1816 -1878) was the fifth governor of Wisconsin, and one of the founders of the U.S. Republican Party, who took office one week before he signed this document, having originally been declared the loser. After threatening to use force , Bashford convinced the prior winner vacated his office. Bashford lasted one term as governor, a bribery scandal leading him to flee Wisconsin, but his career was resurrected in the newly formed Arizona Territory.
Signed on the verso by Monroe County Registrar R S Kingman (Romanzo Sharon) who after leaving his medical studies, came to the county from Ashtabula, Ohio with his two brothers, twins named Rosalvo and Alvarado in July of 1851, when Monroe County contained six families, and the country was almost an unbroken wilderness.. In 1854 he was elected register of deeds and became a very prominent citizen of Sparta, being one of the banking firm of Thayer & Kingman (See: History of Northern Wisconsin, Chicago: Western Historical Co, 1881 pp. 617-644).
The patent is dated the April 1, 1856 and signed by the Governor, Coles Bashford and the Secretary of State,"D.M. Jones".
Coles Bashford (1816 -1878) was the fifth governor of Wisconsin, and one of the founders of the U.S. Republican Party, who took office one week before he signed this document, having originally been declared the loser. After threatening to use force , Bashford convinced the prior winner vacated his office. Bashford lasted one term as governor, a bribery scandal leading him to flee Wisconsin, but his career was resurrected in the newly formed Arizona Territory.
Signed on the verso by Monroe County Registrar R S Kingman (Romanzo Sharon) who after leaving his medical studies, came to the county from Ashtabula, Ohio with his two brothers, twins named Rosalvo and Alvarado in July of 1851, when Monroe County contained six families, and the country was almost an unbroken wilderness.. In 1854 he was elected register of deeds and became a very prominent citizen of Sparta, being one of the banking firm of Thayer & Kingman (See: History of Northern Wisconsin, Chicago: Western Historical Co, 1881 pp. 617-644).