section 27 township 6 north range 22 east

the particular is beautiful. 

we know with great precision where sion and kitsie were for about 10 years...from 1854 to 1864...give or take. 

in november 1854, sion paid $10 for 40 acres under a new federal law to unload all the public available after native americans were conveniently removed.  in the local case, the creeks were packed off to oklahoma. sion purchased a 16th of section 27 of township 6 north, range 22 east.  the paperwork exists in the national archives. 

land purchase statement

click on the image to see it enlarged.  and here we have it...sion's mark.  his "x" is at the bottom right. he left, as far as we know, no other sign on paper of his passing through this planet. 

section 27

luckily, usgs topographic maps include the township and range grids. make a mental division of section 27 into 4 squares. pick the bottom right square and mentally divide that into 4 equal squares.  of those 4 smaller squares, pick the bottom left one and you have the sw 1/4 of the se quarter, which is the 16th part that sion bought.  his 40 acres.  so, roughly, it is situated right above the bottom red line about where the 400 foot is marked on the isoline.  the dashed and dotted blue line is an intermittent stream that drains into bowles creek.

the bigger view

the 40 acres would be just to the right of the bottom of the last "e" in coffee.  sion would have traveled the 15 miles west to elba where the land office was to apply and make payment. 

the land is now in the middle of fort rucker where training on apache attack copters takes place. in 2001, cousin rex everage (descendant of dan hutcheson who was a son of sion) and i wheedled our way onto the the fort with escort, drove down a dirt road to the approximate location of the 40 acres. 

looking into sion and kitsie's land

the focus is a little soft.  but you get the idea.  being locked into the fire range of fort rucker has protected the land from other development.  no sign of any farmstead, but we could not walk into the land because of unexploded munitions.  but somewhere in the thicket fields were planted, hogs and cattle roamed and the sons and daughters of sion and kitsie labored and frolicked and all was well for 10 years.