In 1830 the prairie lands in the northern half of Illinois were still considered part of the frontier with a population of about two persons per square mile.
A large portion of this land had been the Illinois Military Tract, 3,500,000 acres located between the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, which originally was assigned by Congress as bounty lands to encourage enlistment in the army during the War of 1812. Between 1817 and 1819 the government issued thousands of patents to individual soldiers. However, few veterans actually settled on their holdings in the military tract and the bounty lands were largely bought by eastern speculators at low prices. By 1822 the lands had been surveyed and slowly settlement began. With the opening of the Quincy Land Office in 1831, migration into the tract escalated.
From the description of Records : 1832-1842. (Newberry Library). WorldCat record id: 34653142
