Land grant signatures—are they genuine?

To the editor:

My late wife grew up in Jasper County. Her ancestors— the family of John Schackmann—farmed land there under a series of land grants from Presidents Millard Fillmore, James Polk, Zachary Taylor, and Franklin Pierce in the first half of the 1 9th century. My wife's mother was Lora Schackmann.

I have six folded land-grant documents, with appropriate seals, which resided in the family safe-deposit boxes since that time. They are "signed" by each of the Presidents cited above. The seals, type of paper, and writing styles lead me to believe that the signatures are genuine. My question is, "Are the presidential signatures authentic, or, as I suspect, were they signed by a designated presidential secretary?" I suspect the latter, as the signature of the Secretary and the President look remarkably similar. I am attaching a partial scan of one of the documents. I do not request "authentication"; that would be an imposition on my part. But I would like to know whether, based on historical practices and precedents to your knowledge, was it common for these documents to be given to the grantees with an authentic presidential signature?

Thank you for any assistance you may be able to provide.

Robert B. Ryan
   St. Michaels, MD

Editor's note: I am referring your query to ISHS Vice President Mark Sorensen of the Illinois State Archives. His answer follows.

Dear Mr. Ryan,

Almost all of the land in Illinois was sold via US land sale offices in Illinois after the President released a notice that he was opening certain portions of land for sale. He would sign these declarations or most likely have a subordinate sign for him. We have many of these signed declarations in the Illinois State Archives. We generally assume that the signatures are not actually those of the President. The Archives staff has created an online database of all government land sales located at http://www.ilsos.gov/ GenealogyMWeb/landsrch.html. A search for Schackmann in Jasper County reveals the following:
SCHACKMANN GEORGE NWSE 33 07N 10E 3 08/19/1844 JASPER SCHACKMANN JOHN JR NWSW 21 07N 10E 3 10/18/1852 JASPER

We have no ability to judge whether any signature that you have is authentic. The National Archives might be able to tell you better what the procedure was at that time for creating the type of record you have. A private dealer might also be able to appraise what you have. Let me know if we can be of any further assistance. I am curious as to why this family received grants of land directly from the President.

Mark Sorensen
         Illinois State Archives

Society appoints new Journal editor

Dr. Eileen McMahon, Assistant Professor of History at Lewis University, will become the editor of The Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society on January 1, 2008.

ISHS president John Weck has appointed Dr. Eileen McMahon, Assistant Professor of History at Lewis University in Romeoville, as the new editor of The Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, effective January 1, 2008. Dr. McMahon received a unanimous recommendation from the Select Search Committee, charged with finding a new editor after Dr. Kay J. Carr, the Journal's current editor at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, announced she would step down at the end of the year.

Dr. Carr has served as Journal editor since Fall 2002, and resigned to take on additional teaching and administrative duties at SIU-C.

"Eileen is well qualified based on her experience as an editor of a scholarly journal, her own academic work on Illinois topics, and her teaching a course in Illinois history," said Dr. David Scott, chairman of the Editor Search Committee and of the Society's Publications Committee. He went on to say that the new editor will continue the capable work of Kay Carr, producing issues of the Journal that meet the Society's principle of diversity, that is, be representative of the "variety of Illinois groups, communities, regions, organization, eras, leaders, and events."

Professor McMahon is the author of "What Parish Are You From? The Chicago Irish Parish Community and Race Relations, 1916-1970; A History of the St. Croix Valley, coauthored with Ted Karamanski, forthcoming from University of Wisconsin Press; as well as other articles including, "The Irish In Illinois," in The Encyclopedia of the Irish in America, edited by Michael Glazer. Dr. McMahon has also served as editor of Mid-America: A Historical Journal for four years. She teaches the History of Illinois; Immigration, Ethnicity, and Race; American Women's History, Sports in America; Native American History, and Public History. Dr. McMahon also is the history department's Student Internship Director overseeing students' work at such places as Cantigny First Division Museum, the Joliet History Museum, and the Illinois & Michigan Canal Archives at Lewis University. She has also been a Boy Scouts of America leader for eight years bringing scouts to various historical sites in the state.

The 2008 Membership Renewal Notices will he mailed out October 1st. Renew early before the holiday season begins!

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