Donation Land Claims

Oregon donation land claims were the result of a statue which passed in 1850 and enacted by congress.  The statue granted "320 acres of designated areas free of charge to every unmarried white male citizen eighteen or older–and 640 acres to every married couple–arriving in the Oregon Territory before December 1, 1850.  In the case of a married couple, the husband and wife each owned half of the total grant in their own name. The law was one of the first that allowed married women in the United States to hold property under their own name.” 
Wikipedia Online. (2013) Donation Land Claim Act. Retrieved Sept. 9, 2013, from: