February 16, 1857 - Land Warrant

On February 16, 1857 a land warrant originally obtained by Silas J Wright was transferred to Edwin Pearse by Silas' father, Elisha A Wright following the death of Silas during the Mexican-American War.     This transfer contained the property defined as 163 28/100 acres of the southwestern fractional quarter of Section 1 of Township 39, Range 3 east.

Land Warrant

The original warrant between the United States government and Silas Wright is numbered 78836; I have not been able to track down the original.   The date of that warrant would be any time after February 11, 1847 and prior to the death of Silas J Wright on September 19, 1848. 

A copy of the original patent (below) transferring the property to Edwin Pearse from Silas Wright was typed and filed with the Department of the Interior General Land Office.

Patent record

Silas was born either in 1826 or 1827 in Pittsylvania county, Viginia and enlisted in the Army during the Mexican-American War on May 29, 1847.   He was a private in Company 'F', first regiment and died at the General Hospital in East Pascagoula, Jackson County, Mississippi.

Descriptive and Historical Register of Enlisted Soldiers of the Army 1798 - 1914. 

Silas is listed above on line 161 of the Army register of enlisted soldiers.

Register of enlistments for during the War with Mexico under the Acts approved January 12th and February 11th 1847

Silas is listed above on line 798 of the register of enlistments.   

Neither Silas, nor his father, Elisha lived in Illinois.    Elisha was also born in Virginia and died in Rockingham county, North Carolina on December 1, 1858 just over 21 months after transferring the property over to Edwin Pearse. 

The property would have been obtained due to Silas' enlistment and service in the military, though the date of the transfer to Edwin Pearse is unusual as Edwin had already transferred his interest to his father, Richard Pearse on December 15, 1855.   

DeKalb County Tract Index

The DeKalb county, Illinois County Tract Index indicates the property was transferred to Edwin Pearse from the United States, President Franklin Pierce in 1857.    Another document must exist dated between September 19, 1848 and December 15, 1855 that verifies the property transfer from Silas Wright to Edwin Pearse.

An explanation of the process of acquiring unsettled land can be found on the Joiner History Room website.     Should the website link fail, here is their synopsis of the process:

In the early 1800’s, the U. S. government regarded all unsettled land as “public land” under their control.  They created the General Land Office (GLO).  In turn, the GLO created district offices to facilitate the sale of these lands.  In Illinois ten district offices were established.  The office in Dixon handled DeKalb County.  Each office had a commission consisting of two men to (1) sell the land, (2) receive the money from the sale, (3) record all transactions and (4) settle any disputes.  On September 28, 1850 congress passed a law, An Act Granting Bounty Land to Certain Officers and Soldiers Who Have Engaged in the Military Service of the United States. Summarizing the act, it allowed “certain classes of persons in the military service during the war of 1812, the war with Mexico, or Indian wars, or their widows or minor children entitled to lands, in proportion to certain periods of service.”  To receive the land, the soldier had to go through a several step process.  First, he had to apply for a bounty land warrant essentially proving that he was entitled to this land.  If the warrant was granted (usually a lengthy process), he then had to apply for a land patent.  Warrants could not legally be sold, but land patents could be sold.  He could choose from land made available in Arkansas, Illinois and Missouri.  By the time this Act became law, a great deal of the former soldiers in these wars had aged or had no interest in settling on the land.  The patents would be sold to other individuals or businesses that made money by reselling the patent.

Based upon the explanation above, Silas would not have qualified for a land warrant under the September 28, 1850 law as he did not have a spouse or minor children and his death preceded the passage of the new law.   Silas would have acquired the land warrant as an enticement to enlist in the Army during the Mexican-American War.

The DeKalb County Tract Index does indicate the transfer from the USA to Edwin Pearse was  a patent, the second process in the 1850 law.