Parcel ChronicleReference Desk

Historical research, not title research.

Working prototype
MenuExample histories
Feedback

Example histories

A tree farm near Pedee

The homestead story that wasn’t.

Sullivan Tree Farm: Sections 28 and 33, Township 9 South, Range 6 West, Willamette Meridian, west of Pedee, Polk County, Oregon · See the Surveyor’s Walk card

“Was this land homesteaded around the turn of the century, the way the old management plan says?”

The question · First claims and owners
Reading level KidPlainScholar The wording changes. The facts don’t.

Written by AI

The Sullivan Tree Farm (211 acres; Sections 28 and 33, T. 9 S., R. 6 W., Willamette Meridian; west of Pedee, Polk County, Oregon) carried a management-plan statement that it “was homesteaded around the turn of the century.” The federal survey and patent record shows otherwise: most of the land left federal ownership as two Donation Land Claims surveyed in 1855 and as Oregon & California Railroad grant land, and Homestead Act land amounts to about 7 acres.

A larger piece of the 1855 township plat: Sections 29, 28 and 27 above 32, 33 and 34, with dwellings labeled Tedroe, Johnson and Taylor and the lettering “Level prairie and soil 1st rate.”
The 1855 township plat, wider. The large numbers are sections: 29, 28 and 27 across the top, 32, 33 and 34 below. Find the small black squares labeled “Tedroe,” “Johnson” and “Taylor,” and “Level prairie and soil 1st rate” curving up from Section 33. The small figures along the lines, such as 80.07, are lengths in chains. Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office. A public record of the United States, retrieved by the landowner.
Part of the Donation Land Claim plat of T. 9 S., R. 6 W.: claims drawn across the section lines, each with its owner’s name, number and acreage, including John W. Tedrow’s Claim 54 and John Johnson’s Claim 53.
The Donation Land Claim plat. Each claim carries its owner’s name, number and acreage, and the claims cut across the section lines. John W. Tedrow’s Claim 54 runs up the page in Section 33, marked 322.00 acres; John Johnson’s Claim 53 lies to the northeast. Just right of the Tedrow claim’s top edge is a small lot marked 6.93. The red numbers (1a, 2a and so on) mark the small lots left between claim lines and section lines. Dated 1861 in the landowner’s files; that date has not been re-checked. Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office. A public record of the United States, retrieved by the landowner.
A handwritten page of Thomas H. Hutchinson’s 1855 field notes for the Tedrow claim, stamped 0351.
Hutchinson’s field notes, 1855: the last page of the Tedrow claim survey, stamped 0351. The heading names Claim 54, T. 9 S., R. 6 W., and John W. Tedrow. Read down for “fir & oak timber” (spelling regularized), “but little improvement,” “the rich prairie” and the date, “10th Aug 1855.” Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office. A public record of the United States, retrieved by the landowner.

What the record shows

From the record Written by AI

Subdivision survey by Deputy Surveyor Daniel Murphy, March 13–16, 1854. The notes take bearings on settlers’ dwellings (Tedroe, Johnson, Taylor) and set the quarter corner on the west side of Section 33 “in dooryard,” 39 links (about 26 feet) from Mrs Gillam’s dwelling. Murphy’s spellings Tedroe and Gillam correspond to Tedrow and Gilliam in the patents.

“Mr Tedroe’s dwelling bears S 51½° W.”

Deputy Surveyor Daniel Murphy, March 1854, from the section corner just east of the farm

Source: Murphy, Daniel. Field notes of the subdivision of T. 9 S., R. 6 W., Willamette Meridian, 1854–55. BLM Oregon State Office, vol. R0029 (as transcribed in the landowner’s own history of the farm, October 2026)

Report an error
From the record Written by AI

General Land Office township plat of T. 9 S., R. 6 W., approved May 1, 1855: dwelling symbols lettered Tedroe, Johnson and Taylor, and the descriptive lettering “Level prairie and soil 1st rate” across Section 33 and to the northeast.

“Level prairie and soil 1st rate.”

General Land Office township plat, approved May 1, 1855, lettered across Section 33 and on to the northeast

Source: General Land Office township plat, T. 9 S., R. 6 W., approved May 1, 1855. BLM Oregon State Office (as transcribed in the landowner’s own history of the farm, October 2026; see the first picture above)

Report an error
From the record Written by AI

Donation Land Claim surveys by Deputy Surveyor Thomas H. Hutchinson: Mary Gilliam, July 13–14, 1855; John W. Tedrow, August 10–11, 1855; John Johnson, September 14–15, 1855. The BLM index dates them 1856; the field notes’ own date of 1855 is preferred.

“10th Aug 1855”

Deputy Surveyor Thomas H. Hutchinson, 1855, Field notes of the Tedrow claim survey, page 351

Source: Hutchinson, Thomas H. Field notes of the Donation Land Claim surveys, T. 9 S., R. 6 W., 1855. BLM Oregon State Office, vol. D0022 (as transcribed in the landowner’s own history of the farm, October 2026; the date line is on page 351, the third picture above)

Report an error
From the record Written by AI

About 150 acres of the farm lie within Claim No. 54 (322 acres; John W. and Rachel Tedrow). Hutchinson records but little improvement and values the claim for its timber on the Luckiamute and its rich prairie.

“There is but little improvement on the claim — but it is valuable on account of the timber on Luckiamute river and the rich prairie.”

Deputy Surveyor Thomas H. Hutchinson, August 1855, Field notes of the Tedrow claim survey, page 351

Source: Hutchinson, Thomas H. Field notes of the Donation Land Claim surveys, T. 9 S., R. 6 W., 1855. BLM Oregon State Office, vol. D0022, page 351 (as transcribed in the landowner’s own history of the farm, October 2026)

Report an error
From the record Written by AI

About 12 acres on the east side fall within Claim No. 53 (323.5 acres; John Johnson), described as three fourths rich level prairie and one fourth timbered, highly improved, with a “new barn” noted.

“Three fourths of this claim is rich level prairie, one fourth is timbered. The claim is highly improved.”

Deputy Surveyor Thomas H. Hutchinson, September 1855, Field notes of the Johnson claim survey

Source: Hutchinson, Thomas H. Field notes of the Donation Land Claim surveys, T. 9 S., R. 6 W., 1855. BLM Oregon State Office, vol. D0022 (as transcribed in the landowner’s own history of the farm, October 2026; page not given)

Report an error
From the record Written by AI

Ties from the southwest corner of Claim No. 53, which lies within the farm: Tedrow’s house S 40° E, 100 links (66 feet); Johnson’s house N 40° E, about 6 chains (about 396 feet). Plotted on county map layers, both sites fall within the farm, about 400 feet apart; the positions are plotted, not found in the field.

“Tedrow’s house”

Deputy Surveyor Thomas H. Hutchinson, 1855, Tie from the southwest corner of the Johnson claim

Source: Hutchinson, Thomas H. Field notes of the Donation Land Claim surveys, T. 9 S., R. 6 W., 1855. BLM Oregon State Office, vol. D0022 (as transcribed in the landowner’s own history of the farm, October 2026; house sites plotted there on Polk County map layers, approximate)

Report an error
From the record Written by AI

Bearing trees recorded by Murphy and Hutchinson at 13 corners on and near the farm: 23 trees, being 11 white oak, 4 “oak” (species not stated), 2 each of ash, alder and cherry, 1 willow and 1 “red fir” (Douglas-fir); 15 oaks in all against a single Douglas-fir. A small sample selected by the surveyors, not a vegetation survey.

Source: Murphy, Daniel. Field notes of the subdivision of T. 9 S., R. 6 W., Willamette Meridian, 1854–55. BLM Oregon State Office, vol. R0029; Hutchinson, Thomas H. Field notes of the Donation Land Claim surveys, T. 9 S., R. 6 W., 1855. BLM Oregon State Office, vol. D0022 (the tally of 23 bearing trees as counted in the landowner’s history, October 2026)

Report an error
From the record Written by AI

Patent history: five patents, probably six. Claims No. 54 and No. 53, 1877. Oregon & California Railroad grant land on the west, about 31 acres, patents of January 30, 1897 and November 29, 1899. A strip of about 7 acres (the 6.93-acre lot of the claim plat), attributed by inference only to O&C patent No. 2 of July 12, 1871, which nobody has examined. Estimated from county map layers, the pieces total about 207 of 211 acres.

Source: BLM General Land Office Records (land patents) and BLM Historical Index, T. 9 S., R. 6 W. (looked up by the landowner; as transcribed in the landowner’s own history of the farm, October 2026)

Report an error
From the record Written by AI

Homestead Act land: a strip about 138 feet wide along the farm’s north edge in Section 28, about 7 acres, being the southern edge of the 104.35 acres patented to Charles W. Pagett on October 12, 1900. The BLM Historical Index records three earlier entries on the tract, in 1881, 1886 and 1887, all cancelled, the last in October 1894.

Source: BLM General Land Office Records (land patents) and BLM Historical Index, T. 9 S., R. 6 W. (looked up by the landowner; as transcribed in the landowner’s own history of the farm, October 2026)

Report an error
From the record Written by AI

As Bob Zybach pointed out, the chronology excludes homesteading for the claim land. The Donation Land Act of September 27, 1850 (ch. 76, 9 Stat. 496) was “extended and continued in force until the first day of December, eighteen hundred and fifty-five” (December 1, 1855) by the Act of February 14, 1853, ch. 69, § 5, 10 Stat. 158. The Homestead Act of May 20, 1862, ch. 75, 12 Stat. 392, allowed entries “from and after the first January, eighteen hundred and sixty-three” (1863). Only the 1900 Pagett strip is homestead land.

“extended and continued in force until the first day of December, eighteen hundred and fifty-five”

Act of Congress amending the Donation Land Act, section 5, February 14, 1853, 10 Stat. 158 (U.S. Statutes at Large, official scan)

Source: Act of Feb. 14, 1853, ch. 69, § 5, 10 Stat. 158; Homestead Act of May 20, 1862, ch. 75, 12 Stat. 392 (entries from January 1, 1863) (Homestead Act scan: govinfo.gov, STATUTE-12-Pg392; Dr. Zybach’s point as reported in the landowner’s history)

Report an error
Added by the owner Written by AI

Land use: fenced cattle grazing before 1989 (management plan); Douglas-fir planting of the open areas by Publishers Paper about 1976, in tubes against deer; purchase by WTD Industries in 1988, road building, and harvest of nearly all merchantable timber in spring 1989; replanting in 1990, two plantings of about 25,000 Douglas-fir seedlings each.

Source: Sullivan Tree Farm Management Plan (2012), as summarized in the landowner’s history (October 2026) (the history notes that the plan’s word “homesteaded” is wrong for most of the land)

Report an error
From the record Written by AI

USDA aerial photography of 1936, 1955 and 1978 (Oregon Digital, “Aerial Photos, Mid-Willamette,” Oregon State University): in 1936 a mosaic of tree clumps and open ground; in 1955 open grassland with scattered trees; in 1978 increased tree cover about two years after the planting. Registered to the modern map by road matching, the frames are accurate only to 100 to 250 feet. Not reproduced here.

Source: USDA aerial photographs, Polk County, 1936–1978, in Oregon Digital, “Aerial Photos, Mid-Willamette” (Oregon State University) (as transcribed in the landowner’s own history of the farm, October 2026)

Report an error

What the record can’t say

Written by AI

  • Gap in the record The chain of conveyances from the patentees (claimants, railroad, homesteader) to the present holding has not been traced in the county deed records.
  • Gap in the record The attribution of the 7-acre strip to O&C patent No. 2 (1871) is inferential; the patent has not been examined.
  • Gap in the record All positions are plotted from county GIS layers rather than surveyed; the house sites and corners have not been examined in the field, and few if any bearing trees are likely to survive.
  • Gap in the record Biographical identification of the claimants is unconfirmed: the Tedrow family accounts conflict, and the identification of the Claim 53 holder rests on a volunteer-compiled cemetery record.
  • Gap in the record Pre-survey Native occupation and use of this ground is undocumented in the sources used. The Kalapuya name is regional background only, not drawn from this property’s records; a published account of the Luckiamute country remains to be added.

What to look up next

Written by AI

  1. Read the claimants’ own sworn statements

    Consult the donation claim files on National Archives microfilm M815 (Oregon City certificates 4751 and 4753) for the claimants’ sworn statements of arrival, marriage and settlement.

    Bring back: Dates of arrival, marriage and settlement, and the claimants’ signatures.

    Where it lives: Land entry case files (homestead, donation and cash-sale files) (fee)

  2. Trace the deeds from 1877 forward

    Trace the chain of title through the county grantor and grantee indexes, beginning with the patentees (Tedrow, Johnson, the O&C Railroad, Pagett).

    Bring back: Date, grantor, grantee, and book and page for each conveyance.

    Where it lives: Polk County historical deed books, 1840-1984 · Polk County Clerk land records search (Digital Research Room) (varies)

  3. Look at the patents and the homestead file

    Retrieve the patents from BLM’s General Land Office Records (unscanned patents, including O&C patent No. 2, from the BLM Oregon State Office public room) and the homestead entry file for final certificate 5919 from the National Archives.

    Bring back: Patent images; from the case file, the dates of settlement and the improvements claimed.

    Where it lives: General Land Office Records (land patents, survey plats, field notes) · Land entry case files (homestead, donation and cash-sale files) (varies)

  4. Read the rest of the surveyors’ notes

    The BLM Oregon State Office survey index for T. 9 S., R. 6 W. lists the plats and field-note volumes (R0029, D0022); transcribe the remaining entries for the lines and corners of the farm.

    Bring back: Transcriptions with volume and page for each line and corner.

    Where it lives: BLM survey records for Township 9 South, Range 6 West (free)

  5. See the land from the air

    Beyond the Oregon Digital frames (1936, 1955, 1978), search the OSU and UO aerial photography holdings for intervening flights.

    Bring back: Date, flight line and frame number for each covering exposure.

    Where it lives: Oregon Digital · OSU Libraries aerial photo collections · UO Aerial Photography Collection and Research Service (varies)

  6. Ask the tribes’ own history offices

    For pre-survey history, consult the cultural resources programs of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.

    Bring back: A citable published account, used with the tribe’s permission.

    Where it lives: Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde - Cultural Resources Department · Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians - Culture & Language (free)

Written by AI An AI-written summary of the landowner’s own history of this farm, “Rich Prairie, White Oak, Douglas-fir” (October 2026), which draws on BLM survey, plat and patent records; the law is quoted from the U.S. Statutes at Large. Pictures: Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State Office, retrieved by the landowner.

Historical research, not title research. For ownership questions, talk to a title company or an attorney.

Now try your own place Bring boots; the corner posts won’t come to you.

Back to top