Daniel Freeman of Beatrice, Nebraska

 I have about 8700 names in my family tree, which seems like a lot until you notice how many trees on Ancestry have 100,000 and more. As a general rule I don’t seek out every possible distant cousin to add to the tree. I try to be as complete as I can be on the direct ancestors, and beyond that look for people who seem interesting to me. 


That “seems interesting” gives me a pretty broad leeway. I read somewhere about the man credited with being the first homesteader to take advantage of the 1862 Homestead Act. His name was Daniel Freeman and his homestead was in Beatrice, Nebraska. Now Freeman is a pretty frequent surname in my wife’s ancestry, so I looked into Daniel’s bloodline and sure enough discovered that he was her 7th cousin (4x removed). Note: since Laurie and I are actually related (17th cousins) that means Daniel is my relation as well, but far more distantly.


Anyway, what really made me want to add him to the family tree was his picture.



You can read about Daniel’s homestead at this National Park Service site. Daniel, like Laurie, was a descendant of the Reverend John Mayo (1597-1676) of Eastham, Cape Cod. Most of that prodigious crowd of ancestors from Eastham stayed around the Cape or went up to Maine. I’ve not found too many who made their way West. But I like Daniel. He appears to be a pretty ruggedly self-sufficient character, although I would question the placement of his big knife!

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