11 July 2010 Results from the NARA Request
I got the files from the homestead application by John McAfee for the SW ¼ of Section 12 (160 acres) in T4N R66W, just south of Evans, Colorado, near the area called the “Big Bend.” There are no answers to the where in Ireland question, but there are some useful pieces of information. 1) John McAfee always considered himself a citizen of the United States because he came here as a minor and his father told him that he (his father) was naturalized. Since he couldn’t produce any proof of his father’s naturalization, he had to get a Final Certification of Naturalization – Minor. This is why we could never find a Declaration of Intent. 2) At the time of the final entries for the homestead, he filed an affidavit saying that the occupants of the homestead were himself, his wife, and five children. This was 1883. [I think the five children were Samuel Joseph, Alice Mary, Katherine Wilson, and John James, plus one more. The one more could be Lida McAfee Higgins who was just married a year earlier or it could be Edwin John McKinley, Maggie McAfee McKinley’s surviving son who would be John McAfee’s grandson.] 3) John McAfee filed an affidavit saying that he had settled on the SW ¼ of Section 12 on the 21st day of May in 1877. 4) Two people filed affidavits entitle Homestead Proof – Testimony of Witness. One was Moses Lovelady and the other was James McAfee. 5) In the Homestead Proof – Testimony of Witness by John McAfee, he states that “My father came to this country when I was about 2 years old.” [This is inconsistent with the statement by Samuel Joseph McAfee that his father came to this country when he was 8 years old as recorded in the biographical sketch published by Chapman Publishing Company.] 6) On the 27th of March 1883 he filed a statement that he was 66 years old. [This age is inconsistent with all of the entries on the federal and state censuses. I would have expected 67 or 68.]
18 July 2010 Internet Site
I found an internet site where the 1865 Illinois State Census for Elkton Precinct has been transcribed. The site is http://genealogytrails.com/ill/washington/1865cen_e.html. The census only lists heads of household and the number of people living in that household by ten year age brackets. There are entries for John McAfee, James McAfee, Robert McAfee, and George Stephenson. There are two people listed under John McAfee that don’t make sense, one male and one female, aged 20 to 30. Also the ages for James McAfee do not make sense for either James McAfee, Senior or James McAfee, Junior, they are too young, however he is probably still a relative. The entries for Robert McAfee and George Stephenson seem to make sense, but I haven’t looked at these carefully.
15 August 2011 NARA Request
I ordered the Land Entry File from NARA for the first 40 acres purchased by James McAfee in Washington County, Illinois. This was a cash sale.
27 August 2011 NARA Response
James McAfee bought 40 acres for $50.00 at the SE quarter of the SW quarter of Section 8, Township 3S, Range 4W, recorded at the land office in Kaskaskia, on February 6, 1839. The file contains four documents: 1) an application to buy the land, 2) a receipt for the $50, 3) a document that looks like it might be a title, and 4) an affidavit that the land will be used for the “purposes of cultivation” by James McAfee. There is nothing to indicate which James McAfee (senior or junior) this is. I have always assumed it is James McAfee, Sr., but that is just an assumption.
