El Reno Homesteader Filings
From the Oklahoma Historical Society
http://www.okhistory.org/research/elreno

This database includes names printed in "Names of the El Reno Land District Homesteader Filings, 1902" published by H.H. Edwards in Guthrie, Oklahoma. In late July and early August of 1901, land was opened for settlement in 13,000 160-acre tracts formerly located within the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache reservation and the Wichita-Caddo-Delaware reservation. The lands were divided into two districts: El Reno and Lawton. Individual's registered and waited for the drawing. Those whose names were drawn could then go and stake their claim. This book lists individuals whose names were drawn in the 1901 land lottery held at the El Reno land office.

No.              Name                      City                State
6518     Daniel G. Gilliland      Hobart        Oklahoma Territory
1332     Bird Gillliland*           Mt. Ayr       Iowa

*This was simply a spelling mistake in the record.

    A confirmation of Bird Gilliland’s filing was published in the El Reno Democrat, 22 August, 1901. I could not find Daniel Gilliland’s name in the same newspaper but not all of the images from which I was working were complete.
    I checked the reference book cited by the Oklahoma Historical Society and found that Daniel Gilliland’s filing was actually listed as No. 6128, not 6815. The filing for Bird Gilliland was the same as shown above, No. 1332. More specifics on the location of these claims may be found in the volume previously referenced, which is available for online reading via the Google library.
    I am not confident in providing additional information on Daniel Gilliland, as there were at the time many Gillilands who were migrating back and forth between Texas and Oklahoma Territory. I can, however, provide a bit of practical information on Bird Gilliland.

1900 census for Mount Ayr, Ringgold, Iowa
Household:
Bird Gilliland
Age 23, single
Father: Jesse D. Gilliland, age 66, born Pennsylvania
Brother: George A. Gilliland, age 30

1870 census for Mount Ayr, Ringgold, Iowa
Jesse D. Gilliland, age 36, teamster, b. Pennsylvania
Nancy C.*, wife, age 35, b. Indiana
Elizabeth M., daughter, age 15, b. Iowa
Mary M., daughter, age 13, b. Iowa
George, son, 11 mos., b. Iowa

*Nancy Catherine Schwartz

-Contributed by Kate Maynard, 2013