____________________________________________________________________________ Preemption Proof State of Arkansas, County of Hempstead, Be it remembered, that on the twentieth day of May, in the year eighteen hundred and thirty-nine, John Hughes of Pike County, in the State of Arkansas, personally came before me, the undersigned, a justice of the peace within and for the County of Hempstead, in the presence of the Register and Receiver at Washington, Arkansas and being duly sworn, states on oath: That, he is over twenty-one years, to wit: about forty-six years of age, a married man, the head of a family consisting of himself and wife; and that in the year eighteen hundred and nineteen, he removed to and took possession of a portion of the public lands of the United States in a then unsurveyed township, and that the township in which said improvement is situate, was surveyed in the year eighteen hundred and thirty-seven, and said improvement was found to be upon the northeast quarter of section eight, south of range number twenty-five, west, in the District of Lands subject to sale at Washington, Arkansas; and that said improvement consisted of a dwelling house and other out houses and about thirty acres of improved land under fence; and he further states that in the year eighteen hundred and thirty-three, he cultivated on said tract about twenty acres, principally in corn, and that the residue, with his family, thereon, and had possesion of the same on the nineteenth day of June, eighteen hundred and thirty-four, and still resides and cultivates and has possession of the same. John Hughes Sworn to and subsribed before me, this 20th May, 1839. R.L. Phillips, J.P. ____________________________________________________________________________ And at the same time and place, Rice Stringer and Sion B. Dickson personally came before me, in the presence, as aforesaid, and being duly sworn, state on oath, that, they are personally and well acquainted with the within named John Hughes, and that they know he is over twenty-one years of age, the head of a family, and that in the year eighteen hundred and thirty-three, he cultivated about twenty acres upon the northeast quarter of section eight in township eight, south of range, twenty-five, west, in the Disrict of Lands subject to sale at Washington, Arkansas, and that he resided thereon, and had possession of the same on the nineteenth day of June, 1834, and that he still resides on and has possession of the same, & further, say not. Rice Stringer Sion B. Dickson Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 20th May, 1839. R.L. Phillips, J.P. Approved the 20th May, 1839. D.T. Witter, Recr. Geo. Conway, Rgtr. Recorded Vol. 8, page 61. GLO claim approved, 9 Mar 1840. ____________________________________________________________________________ Certificate 4026, Washington, Arkansas Land Office, Record Group 49, National Arhives, Washington, D.C. ____________________________________________________________________________ HTML file and design by David Kelley, 1997. All rights reserved.