Albert Fisher

Quick Facts

Significance:

Kansas Homesteader

Place of Birth:

Viriginia

Date of Birth:

About 1830

Place of Death:

Leavenworth, Kansas

Date of Death:

May 12, 1908

Place of Burial:

Leavenworth, Kansas

Cemetery Name:

Leavenworth National Cemetery

Albert Fisher was an early homestead settler near Nicodemus, Kansas and was incredibly involved within his community.

Fisher was born in Virginia around 1830. He joined the army in September of 1863, and was discharged May 13, 1866, as a Private in the 6th United States Colored Heavy Artillery Regiment, Company C.

Fisher filed a claim for entry #14129 at the Kirwin Kansas Land Office in 1879. His claim fell into Wild Horse Township, a part of Graham County Kansas, and just south of Nicodemus. He arrived to his claimed land on September 3, 1879, along with Wild Horse’s third group of settlers.

He was married to a woman named Eliza, originally from Kentucky. For the next six years, Fisher and his wife worked diligently to prove up his claim by farming crops on 25 acres, constructing a stone house, a dugout stable, a well, an orchard, and a corral.

The Webster Cyclone, a weekly newspaper in Nicodemus, Kansas published a notice on August 12, 1886 of Fisher’s intention to make final proof of his homestead claim. The publication listed his claim for the southwest quarter of Section 12 in Township eight south of Range 21 West of the 6th Principal Meridian.

On October 1st, 1886, Fisher and his neighbors, C. Crow and John Clark testified as witnesses to Fisher’s proof at the Kirwin Kansas Land Office. His patent, #9918, was later issued on August 6, 1889.

Fisher was very involved within Wild Horse and other nearby townships. In 1885, he was chosen to be a part of Graham County’s Republican county convention. A year later, the farmers of Graham County banded together to form Graham County’s Agricultural and Horticultural Society. Fisher was chosen as a board member for Wild Horse Township. He was also listed to be the treasurer of school district 76 in The Graham County Recorder in 1898.

Learn more about Black Homesteading in America.

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Sources: 

• Patent Details - BLM GLO Records
• Land Entry Case File (see below)
• 1880 & 1900 United States Federal Census
• 1885 & 1895 Kansas State Census 
• Grand Army of the Republic, Muster Roll, Hill City, KS
• 18 Sep 1885, 3 - The Millbrook Times
• 11 Aug 1886, 4 - The Millbrook Herald
• 13 Aug 1886, 4 - The People's Reveille
• 20 Feb 1890, 4 - Graham County Times
• 14 Jan 1898, 11 - Graham County Recorder
• 14 Jan 1898, 7 - Graham County Recorder
• 14 May 1908, 8 - The Leavenworth Weekly Times
• Burial Registers, Military Posts and National Cemeteries
• Albert Fisher - Find A Grave Memorial