Daniel Freeman: The first homesteader

Daniel Freeman was born in 1826 in Ohio. He was a physician, Civil War veteran, crusader for the separation of church and state, the first American Homesteader, and an all-around badass. Just look at his photo. He looks like the kind of guy who doesn’t own an oven because “revenge is a dish best served cold.”

After graduating from medical school Daniel Freeman volunteered to serve in the 17th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment. This was a time when warfare was largely fought by lining men up into straight lines and having them shoot at each other at relatively close rang while it was raining cannon balls.

During the civil war Daniel Freeman served as an army scout, which is arguably one of the most dangerous and badass jobs one could have. It was at this time that President Lincoln signed the Homesteading Act of 1862. When Freeman found out about the Homesteading Act, he decided to go on a scouting mission to the land office. He somehow convinced an agent at the office to open just after midnight so that he could make his claim. In doing so, he became the first person to register under the Homesteading Act.

The Homesteading Act of 1862 gave 160 acres of land to those who registered under the act. In order to keep the land, one had to live on the land for several years after and “improve it” by planting crops and building a house. One of the requirements was that would be homesteaders had to build a home that was at least “12X14.” However, some homesteaders found a loophole in that the Homesteading Act didn’t specify if the dimensions were in feet or in inches.

The Homesteading Act also required that you live on the land for at least 5 years, which was a daunting task. Most homesteaders couldn’t make it through their first 5 years of blizzards, Indian raids, disease, droughts, loneliness, poor internet connection, and a host of other minor inconveniences. However, Daniel Freeman wasn’t the type to let poor cell service and a little frost bite get in in his way. Five years after being the first person to sign up under the Homesteading Act he got three witnesses to sign off and was granted his claim.

After staking his claim, marrying his dead brother’s fiancé, and moving to Nebraska, Daniel Freeman got into a little kerfuffle with the local school board. The issue came about when Freeman got word that the teacher at the local one room schoolhouse was spending more time teaching children about the Bible than she was teaching them their ABCs.

This didn’t sit well with Freeman who was an educated, no bullshit war veteran, who knew a thing or two about the United States Constitution. He marched right down to the schoolhouse with his righteous beard and told the teacher to knock it off. The teacher informed him that everything she was teaching had been approved by the school board.

As you can probably tell from his photo, Daniel Freeman wasn’t the kind of guy who just let things go. Rather he decided to take matters into his own hands and give the teacher and the school board a lesson is civics.

Daniel Freeman marched down to the local court house and became the chief plaintiff in a landmark separation of church and state decision that religious zealots are still bitching about to this day. Freeman lost the first couple of court cases. However, he kept fighting through the courts all the way up to the Nebraska State Supreme Court where he eventually won.