Anna Eliza Blount Kline

                           Anna Eliza Blount Kline                      And Her Swamp Land Patent

The great New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812 created a big swamp in southeast Missouri.  Small streams including the Little River that runs through Morehouse, Missouri, fed the swamp.  A two-million-acre region called the “Missouri Glades” was the largest wetland in America prior to 1928.  The swamp was nearly impenetrable and considered almost useless by most everyone.  The exception was at the edges and on the ridges.  The swamp's dense forests contained millions of feet of marketable timber.  Some of the ancient oak trees reached 27 feet circumference, and some of the Cyprus trees circumferences reached 10 to 12 feet.  In the early to mid-1800's, lumbermen recognized the value of abundant timber and bought up most of the land. But after the lumbermen cleared the land of its oak, cypress, hickory, and gum trees, they found that they had to pay taxes on unproductive land.  The Swamp Land Act of 1850 was enacted to solve this problem by finding individuals willing to pay taxes on the swamp land.

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The land in the district initially was owned by the United States government and granted to the state through the Swamp Land Act of 1850. Not knowing what to do with it, the state conveyed the land to the counties.  The land remained vested in the counties for most of the last half of the 19th century because the counties were unable to find anyone willing to assume the burden of taxes on swamp land after the timber was removed.  The counties eventually sold the land to private owners and companies at low cost, with the stipulation that it had to be developed and drained.[1]

My great-grandmother Anna Eliza Blount Kline applied for a Swamp Land Patent from the General Land Office of the United States at Ironton, Missouri.  She received Swamp Land Patent Number 496, on August 6, 1883, located in Section 4, Township 25, and Range 13, consisting of 640 acres.  The land was two miles southeast from Morehouse, Missouri, and down the dirt road from her Uncle Madison J. Tickell, her mother’s brother. 

[1] Missouri Secretary of State website.

Anna Kline (Census records show the last name as Cline) was the daughter of Thomas P.  and Elizabeth Cornelius (Tickell) Blount, born 24 Nov 1846 in Obion County, Tennessee, or Fulton County, Kentucky.  Obion County is in the northwest corner of Tennessee.  Anna’s mother’s parents, William J. and Lavinia (Stallcup) Tickell, lived in Fulton County, Kentucky at the time of her birth, which is adjacent to Obion County, Tennessee.  My Aunt Grace (Cline) Dye told me Anna’s father was said to be related to the prominent political Blount family.  However, I have yet to find a published connection, or a Will, relating him to Tennessee Governors William or Willie Blount.   Elizabeth Tickell was married to Thomas Blount a month less than two-and-a-half years when he died on 29 Mar 1848.    Family tradition tells that her father provided well for Anna and her mother financially, but as of February 2017, I have not located Thomas P. Blount’s Will in either Obion County, Tennessee or Fulton County, Kentucky.  Anna Eliza was only 16 months old when her father died, and was forty-five when her mother died in New Madrid on 9 Mar 1892.  Her mother left her property in New Madrid, and all her personal belonging in a will recorded in the New Madrid County Courthouse.  I believe, but can’t prove, that Elizabeth Tickell’s wealth, and then Anna’s wealth came from the Thomas Blount marriage.

Part 2 of 6 will be published tomorrow, and one part a day thereafter until all six are published.