1993 - Lands, Laws, and Women - Decisions of the General Land Office, 1881 - 1920, A Preliminary Report, Nancy J. Taniguchi

Description

Between 4 and 21 percent of the published cases involved women Women's use of law was somewhat overlooked by historians writing about the settlement of the West. The purpose of this study was to begin the tabulation of data in the published Land Office Decisions. The paper sets the material in context, presents the first broad tabulations, suggests some important questions and tentative answers, and brings these useful documents to the attention of other scholars of women in the West. Since the author postulated legal possession as the basis of settlement, the obvious question emerged: How did women fare in disputes over "settling" the West? What were the effects of time and place on their success, defined as more cases won than lost by women? Specifically, during the decades from 1881 to 1920, when and where did women win more often than they lost in disputes over the public domain adjudicated by the General Land Office?