Transcribed and submitted by Charlene Holland
Please check here for further information about the Benjamin Christopher Harris Family.

Receiver's Duplicate Receipt No. 9442__Application No. _9442__

Receiver's Office, Dardanelle__
February 7th, 1876

RECEIVED of Benjamin C. Harris the sum of Six dollars and --- cents, being the amount of fee and compensation of Register and Receiver for the entry of SE 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of Section 10 Township 4N of Range 30 W , under Section 2290, Revised Statutes of the United States.

Receiver

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$6.00
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[Note: This page is not a form, but is completely handwritten]
State of Arkansas
County of Scott

Benjamin C. Harris of Scott County Arkansas being duly sworn according to law deposes and says that on or about the 7 day of February 1876, he made Homestead Entry No. 9442 for the SE 1/4 SW1/4 Sec. 10 Township 4 N. Range 30 W at the District Land Office at Dardanelle Arkansas and Received Duplicate Receipt No. 9442 thereon and that said Duplicate Receipt is now lost, mislaid or destroyed and that this affidavit is made for the purpose of [unable to read] to the said bank.

Benjamin C. Harris
Signature]

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 1st day of October 1881.

J.C. Gilbreath - Clerk
Circuit Court Scott County Arkansas

No. 9442
Land Office at Dardanelle

I, Benjamin C. Harris , of Scott Co Arkansas , do hereby apply to enter, under the provisions of the act of Congress approved May 20, 1862, entitled "An Act to secure homesteads to actual settlers on the public domain," the SE 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of Section 10 Township 4N Range 30 W , containing 40 acres.

Benjamin C. Harris [signature]
Land Office at __Dardanelle
__Feby 7th, 1876

I, F.M. Gibson , REGISTER OF THE LAND OFFICE, do hereby certify that the above applications is for Surveyed Lands of the class which the applicant is legally entitled to enter under the Homestead act of May 20, 1862, and that there is no prior, valid, adverse right to the same.
F.M. Gibson
Register

Jackson Slate: This man was living in Tomlinson and was a farmer. He was acquainted with Benjamin C. Harris for ten years. He signed the document with an "X". There is a S.J. Slate listed in the 1880 census of Tomlinson Township, living two dwellings from Benjamin Christopher Harris. This man is possibly Samuel Jackson Slate, born about 1850 in Missouri who was married to a woman by the name of Nancy, born August 1854 in Mississippi. They had five children that I know of: Henry F. Slate who was born March 1873; M.M. Slate who was born about 1875; Mary A. Slate who was born January 1876 Sarah A. Slate who was born: January 1881 and Samuel J. Slate, Jr. who was born February 1884. According to census and land records this man had lived near the Harris family since 1860. He was also a witness to the homestead records of Matthew Y. Harris, a first cousin of Benjamin C. Harris'.

Joseph Harris: This man was living in Tomlinson and also a farmer. He writes he has known claimant for ten years. He was able to sign document. There is a Joe Harris, age 30 born in Tennesse living in the next dwelling to Benjamin Christopher Harris, who I think may be this man. It is possible that he is also a cousin to B.C. Harris. The man in the census record has a wife Amanda age 25 and four children, Willie age 8, Oliver age 6, Charles age 4 and John age 1. I am only theorizing that this is the same man as is the witness in these Homestead records.

(This form will be used both in final homestead proof and commutation proof.)

Benjamin C. Harris, being called as a witness in his own behalf in support of homestead entry for SE 1/4 of SW 1/4 of Section 10, Township 4 N of Range 30 W testifies as follows:

Question 1. What is your name? (Be careful to give it in full, correctly spelled, in order that it may be here written exactly as you wish it written in the patent which you desire to obtain.)

Answer. Benjamin C. Harris

Question 2. What is your age?

Answer. 43 years

Question 3. Are you the head of a family, or a single person; and if the head of a family, of whom does your family consist?

Answer. I am head of a family consisting of a wife and 9 children.

Question 4.Are you a native born citizen of the United States? If not, have you declared your intention to become a citizen and have you obtained a certificate of naturalization?*

Answer. Yes

*In case the party has been naturalized, a certified copy of his certificate of naturalization must be furnished. In cases of commuted homesteads it is sufficient if the party has declared his intention to become a citizen, in which case a certified copy of his declaration of intention must be furnished.

Question 5. Are there any indications of coal, salines, or minerals of any kind on the land embraced in your homestead entry above described. (If so, state what they are, and whether the springs or mineral deposits are valuable.)

Answer. No

Question 6. Is the land more valuable for agricultural than mineral purposes?

Answer. Yes

Question 7. What is your post-office address?

Answer. Tomlinson Scott County Arkansas

Question 8.Have you ever made a homestead entry except for this land, No 9442? (If you have, give, as nearly as you can, the date thereof and description of the land, and state whether the entry still subsists, or, if it has been canceled, state the cause of its cancellation.)

Answer. No

Question 9. Have you sold the land or conveyed to any one your right and interest in the same; and if so, to whom and for what purpose?

Answer. No

Question 10. Does any one except for yourself claim the land under the homestead or pre-emption laws?

Answer.No

Question 11. When did you first make settlement on the said land?

Answer.About the 13 day of February 1875

Question 12. When did you first establish a residence upon the land?

Answer. About the 13 day of February 1875

Question 13. At the date you have given as being the date that you first established your residence upon the land, did you move thereon in person?

Answer. I did.

Question 14. Up to what time have you resided on the land?

Answer. To the present time.

Question 15. Was your residence upon the land continuous during the period named?

Answer. It was.

Question 16. If you had a family during said period of residence on the homestead, did your family reside thereon?

Answer. They did.

Question 17. What improvements have you made or do you possess on the land? (Describe them.)

Answer. Have built dwelling and several outbuildings, stock lots etc, and orchard planted

Question 18.When was you house built?

Answer. Prior to February 13th 1875

Question 19. What is the total value of said improvements?

Answer. $150

Question 20. For what purpose have you used the land?

Answer. Agriculture

Question 21. How much of the land have broken and cultivated, and what crops, if any, have you raised?

Answer. About 20 acres of said land has been put in cultivation and has been raised corn, cotton, wheat, etc.

Benjamin C. Harris
[his signature]

Note - the officer before whom the testimony is taken should call the attention of the witness to the following section of the Revised Statutes and state to him that it is the purpose of the Government, if it be ascertained that he testifies falsely, to prosecute him to the full extent of the law.

Sec 5392. Every person who having taken an oath before a competent tribunal, officer or person, in any case I which a way f the United States authorizes an oath to be administered that he will testify, declare, depose, or fully and contrary to such oath states or subscribes any material matter which he does not believe to be true, is guilty of perjury, and shall be punished by a fine of not more than two thousand dollars, and by imprisonment at hard labor, not more than five years, and shall moreover, thereafter be incapable of giving testimony in any court of the United States until such time as the judgment against him is reversed. [Sec 1759]

FINAL AFFIDAVIT
Required of Adjoining Farm Homestead Claimants.
Section2291, Revised Statutes.

I, Benjamin C. Harris, having made a Homestead entry of the SE 1/4 SW 1/4 Section No. 10 in Township No 4N of Range No. 30 W, under section 2289 of the Revised Statutes, do now apply to perfect my claim thereto by virtue of Section No. 2291 of the same, and for that purpose do solemnly swear that I am a citizen of the United States; that I have continued to own and occupy the land constituting my original farm, having resided thereon since the 13th day of February, 1875 to the present time, and have made use of the said entered tract putting in cultivation about 20 acres of said land and have used the timbers growing thereon for purposes of fuel and rails boards, etc. That no part of said land has been alienated, but that I am the sole bona fide owner as an actual settler; that I will bear true allegiance to the Government of the United States; and further, that I have not heretofore perfected or abandoned an entry under the homestead law.

Benjamin C. Harris
Signature

I, J.C. Gilbreath, Clerk Circuit Court Scott County, Arkansas , do hereby certify that the above affidavit was taken and subscribed before me this 1st day of October, 1887. And that there is no judge of accent[?] of records present on his office in this county.

J.C. Gilbreath, Clerk
Circuit Court Scott County Arkansas

Land Office, Dardanelle, Ark
November 12th, 1881

FINAL CERTIFICATE
No. 2836
APPLICATION
No. 9442

Received of Benj. C. Harris the sum of One dollars -- cents, being the balance of payment required by law for the entry of South East quarter of the South West quarterof Section 10, Township 4 N of Range 30 West of the fifth Principal Meridian, containing 40 acres

Now, therefore, be it known, That on Presentation of this Certificate to the COMMISSIONER OF THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE, the said Benj. C. Harris shall be entitled to a Patent for the Tract of Land above described.

T.W (or M) Gibson
Register

The shaded areas on the map above are approximate locations of the land. RR stands for Robert Riley Harris, father of Benjamin C. Harris. BC is for Benjamin C. Harris land, and Gipson is the land that belonged to William C. Gipson, husband of Sarah Ivey, sister of Anna Louisiana Ivey Harris.