Enoch Mannin – Homesteader

Enoch Mannin (1823-1907)

Adding maps to my genealogy research is always fun. The Bureau of Land Management records lend themselves to adding maps to better understand an ancestor’s life and history.

The 1895 Minnesota State Census indicated that my third great-grandfather, Enoch Mannin, had moved to Cass County in February 1888. I wondered if that move was relative to homesteading land there.

Section 22, Township 134, Cass County Minnesota

A quick search of the General Land Office Records at the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management site yielded 7 properties for Mannin in Cass county, including one for Enoch Mannin.[i] He was granted a patent for 160 acres (the Northeast quarter) in Section 22, Township 134, Range 31 West of the 5^th Principal Meridian on 1 Feb 1894. To see exactly where the property is, I zoomed in to see it’s relationship to modern features (like streets and roads).

I also can also use the search results to identify others that lived nearby. I learned that Isaac Mannin (probably Enoch’s son) lived adjacent and Samuel Mannin (probably another of Enoch’s sons) lived catawampus from Isaac. As such, it looks like it was a community that was tightly knit with lots of family nearby.

Mannin’s in Section 22 & 26, Township 134, Cass County, Minnesota

It took a little looking but I found that Township 134 is now May township. A Wikipedia search informed me that May township is extremely rural. It has no towns and has only 12 people per square mile.

I also used Google Maps to see what the property looks like today.[ii]  It is definitely out there – about nine miles northeast of Motley and 10 miles north by northwest of Pillager. There is no evidence of a house on Enoch’s homesteaded property today.

Location of Enoch Mannin’s 1894 Homestead

My 3^rd great-grandfather, Enoch Mannin, was one of the 1.6 million individuals[iii] who tamed the western states by homesteading.

Endnotes

[i] U.S. Department of the Interior – Bureau of Land Management – General Land Office Records – Search Documents: Mannin in Cass County, Minnesota:  https://glorecords.blm.gov/results/default.aspx?searchCriteria=type=patent|st=MN|cty=|ln=Mannin|sp=true|sw=true|sadv=false

[ii] https://goo.gl/maps/CwJBk6eL9t92

[iii] History.Com – “Homestead Act” by History.com staff. Published 2009, accessed 27 Jan 2017, https://www.history.com/topics/homestead-act