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Preemption Proof
State of Arkansas,
County of Hempstead,
Be it remembered, that on the 20th day of May in the year one thousand eight
hundred and thirty-nine, Sion B. Dickson, of the County of Pike, in the
State of Arkansas personally came before me, the undersigned, a justice of
the peace within and for the County of Hempstead in the (State) aforesaid,
at Washington in said county, in the presence of the Register and Receiver
at Washington, Arkansas and being duly sworn, deposeth and sayeth:
That, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, he purchased an
improvement on the public lands of the United States from a certain Stacia
Davis; the township in which said improvement is situate was at that time
unsurveyed, but said township was surveyed in the year one thousand eight
hundred and thirty-seven and said improvement found to be upon the South
East quarter of Section Eight in Township Eight South of Range Twenty-five
West in the district of Lands subject to sale at Washington, Arkansas. This
deponent further shows that said improvement consist(ed) of a dwelling
house and other out-houses and about twenty acres of improved land under
fence, and he further states that in the year one thousand eight hundred and
thirty-three, he cultivated on said tract about fifteen acres, principally
in corn and that he resided there and had possession of the same on the 19th
day of June, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, and he further
states that he is over the age of twenty-one years of age, to wit:
thirty-two years of age, a married man, the head of a family consisting of a
wife and six children. Deponent further sayeth not.
Sion B. Dickson
Sworn to and subscribed to before me, this twentieth day of May, one
thousand eight hundred & thirty-nine.
R.L. Phillips, J.P.
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And at the same time and place, John Hughes and James Hughes personally came
before me in the presence as aforesaid, and being duly sworn state on oath,
that, they, are personally well acquainted with the within named Sion B.
Dickson and that they know that he is over twenty one years of age, the head
of a family, and that in the year Eighteen hundred and thirty three he
cultivated about fifteen acres upon the South East quarter of Section Eight
in Township Eight South of Range number Twenty five West in the district of
lands subject to sale at Washington, Arkansas and that he resided thereon
with his family and had possession of the same on the nineteenth day of
June, Eighteen hundred and thirty four. And further, they say not.
John Hughes
James Hughes
Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 20th May 1839.
R.L. Phillips, J.P.
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Certificate 4023, Washington, Arkansas Land Office, Record Group 49,
National Arhives, Washington, D.C.
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