Moses Kinkaid

Kinkaid was born near Morgantown, Virginia, which is now in West Virginia.[2] As a boy, he piloted Canada-bound fugitive slaves to his grandparents' home in Pennsylvania, where food, shelter, and aid were given to them.[3] He attended the public schools and graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1876.[2] He was admitted to the bar and practiced in Henry County, Illinois from 1876 until 1880 and in Pierre, Dakota Territory in 1880 and 1881.[2] In 1881, he moved to O'Neill, Nebraska, where he maintained his residence until his death.[4]

In O'Neill, Kinkaid continued to practice law. He also served as an officer of the Holt County Bank from its foundation in 1884 until 1886.[4] He served in the state Senate in 1883,[2] and as a district judge from 1887 to 1900.[4]

In 1900, Kinkaid unsuccessfully sought election to the U.S. House of Representatives from Nebraska's Sixth District.[2] In 1902, he ran for the same position, this time successfully.

The Sixth District contained most of the Nebraska Sandhills.[4] This is a region of grass-stabilized sand dunes.[5] Rainfall percolates readily into the sandy soil, recharging the aquifer and giving rise to hundreds of permanent lakes; but the sandy soil is poorly suited for cultivation, and the area is chiefly used for cattle ranching.[6]

At the time that Kinkaid entered Congress, the 1862 Homestead Act allowed settlers to obtain a quarter-section (160 acres, or 65 ha) of government land for a nominal fee; the 1873 Timber Culture Act allowed them to claim an additional quarter-section.[7] However, in much of the Sandhills, a half-section was not enough land to sustain a family.[8] Instead, the pattern of development was one of large cattle ranches on federal land,[6] with the ranchers using the homestead laws to secure lakes and streams for their operations.[8]

In an effort to increase settlement in the northwestern portion of his state, Kinkaid sponsored and obtained passage of the Kinkaid Act, which amended the Homestead Act to enlarge the size of a homestead claim in certain arid regions of western Nebraska. Settlers on non-irrigable lands west of the 98th Meridian could claim up to 640 acres (260 ha).[8] The measure was signed by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1904.[4]

The Act had its intended effect: immigration into the Sandhills increased, with nearly nine million new acres (3,600,000 ha) claimed in Nebraska.[6] By 1912, most of the land available had been claimed by "Kinkaiders".[8] Attempts to farm the land thus obtained generally failed; but Kinkaid claims, together with regulations prohibiting fencing of federal land, led to the replacement of a few large ranches in the Sandhills with many smaller ones.[6] The outcome of the Nebraska law led to the passage of the 1916 Stock-Raising Homestead Act, which extended many of the provisions of the Kinkaid act to other Western states.[8]

Holt County Historical Museum, formerly Nebraska State Bank, in O'Neill, Nebraska. Kinkaid's law office occupied the second floor.

Kinkaid held his Congressional seat as a Republican until his death.[4] In the 66th and 67th Congresses (1919–1922), he was Chairman of the Committee on Irrigation of Arid Lands. He died in Washington, D.C. on July 6, 1922,[2] shortly before the end of his tenth term in office.[4] He was buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery in O'Neill, Nebraska.[2]

The Old Nebraska State Bank Building in O'Neill, in which Kinkaid had his law office from 1884 until his death, is now the Holt County Historical Museum.[9] It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.[4] Kinkaid's office has been restored and is on display.[10]

The Kinkaider Brewing Company in Broken Bow, Nebraska was named in honor of the congressman and the "Kinkaiders" who settled this area of the state.[11]

In 1963, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.[12]

• List of United States Congress members who died in office (1900–49)

• United States Congress. "Moses Kinkaid (id: K000221)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Moses P. Kinkaid Law Office Museum (O'Neill, Nebraska)
• Moses Kinkaid at Find a Grave
• Moses P. Kinkaid, late a representative from Nebraska, Memorial addresses delivered in the House of Representatives frontispiece 1924