____________________________________________________________________________ Preemption Proof State of Arkansas, County of Hempstead, United States of America. Be it remembered, that on this, the Twentieth day of May in the year Eighteen Hundred and Thirty-nine, William Hughes of the County of Pike in the State, aforesaid, personally appeared before me the undersigned, an acting Justice of the Peace in and for the County of Hempstead, aforesaid, in the presence of the Register and Receiver of the Land Office at Washington, Arkansas, and on his oath deposeth and says, That in the year Eighteen and thirty three he cultivated a portion of the Public Lands of the United States, at that time unsurveyed, and that said Land was surveyed in the year 1837 by John Wilson, United States deputy surveyor, and that said tract then cultivated is now embraced in the East half of the South West Quarter of Section Six and the East half of the North West quarter of Section Seven, in Township Eight, South of Range Twenty-five West in the District of Lands subject for sale at Washington, Arkansas; that in the said year 1833 he had in cultivation, under fence on said tracts, about Twenty-five acres planted principally in corn; that he had thereon a dwelling house and other outhous(e) in which he resided, and that he resided on said tracts & had possession of the same on the nineteenth day of June, Eighteen Hundred and thirty-four; and that he still resides on and cultivates the same; and this deponant further says not. Wm. (his x mark) Hughes Sworn to & Subscribed before me this 20th May 1839. R.L. Phillips, J.P. Witness: R. L. Phillips ____________________________________________________________________________ And at the same time and place came John Hughes and Rice Stringer and being also sworn in the presence as aforesaid, depose and say, that they are personally acquainted with William Hughes who signed the above and foregoing deposition; that they nor neither of them are in any way interested in the establishment of (this) Land claim, and that they know all the material facts stated by said William Hughes and set forth by him, as aforesaid, are true in substance and in fact; and further they say not. Rice Stringer John Hughes Sworn to and subscribed before me this 20th day of May 1839. R.L. Phillips, J.P. ____________________________________________________________________________ Certificate 4024, Washington, Arkansas Land Office, Record Group 49, National Arhives, Washington, D.C. ____________________________________________________________________________ HTML file and design by David Kelley, 1997. All rights reserved.