Jacob Shank's Land

Jacob Shank was buried in the little cemetery about a quarter mile from my house in the old cemetery in the neighbor's field.  A few years ago, only the top 6 inches of his grave marker was visible.  George used his tractor to pull the stone from the ground and reset it on the grave.

George Working at the cemetery.

Jacob's grave before.

After George cleared the brush and started digging out the stone.

The stone reset.

At the time of his death, Jacob Shank owned land in Section 32 of TS 20N / 22 W which is where part of the land we own is located.  In his will dated just a few days before his death in 1884, he gives the legal description of this land and states it was known as the Dixon farm.  He leaves his land south of Dry Creek to his wife, Mary Shank. His land north of Dry Creek he leaves to his daughter Ruth Ann Kincaid stating that her husband was not to receive any of the estate.  He owned approximately 216 acres lying along both sides of Dry Creek consisting of the part of Uncle Floyd's farm along Dry Creek, all of the original Hugh Morris farm, and the back 40 of Grandpa Powell's farm. I had known Jacob owned land near here, but had not mapped out the location.

Here is a map of section 32 showing land owners from a few years back.  I have outlined Jacob's land in red/yellow.  Aday land is marked with just and A above and to the left of Jacob's land. The hash marked land is owned by someone named Renfroe.  And, I marked in Dry Creek with a blue line because the gray line was hard to see.  If you click on the photo, you can see a larger view.  The little 16 acre notch on the left side of this land Shank owned is interesting.  I wonder if there was not a house located on this piece of a quarter section. Sixteen acres is about a third of a quarter. There is really nothing to indicate where the house would have been within the land description.  

This has the legal description of Jacob Shank's land from his will, with approximate location outlined in blue.  The cemetery where Jacob is buried is marked with a yellow dot.  This is the best I could do with limited drawing tools in Windows 10.  I just think all this is very interesting.