Basic Information
Western Characters who seek to claim land by improving it through agriculture. He is determined to have a place that he owns in his own right, come hell or high water. Even if a good-faith offer to buy the land at a fair price comes up, he won't sell, no sir. Often finds himself at odds with the Cattle Baron or Railroad Baron as a result.
This trope came into its own with the Homestead Act of 1862, which offered 160 acres of public land "free" if a homesteader filed a claim and succeeded in making a viable farm of the land.
See also: Determined Homesteaders Wife, Determined Homesteaders Children, and (perish the thought) Determined Widow.
Sources
Game and Story Use
- No doubt several of these fellers dot the landscape in The Western. They could serve as a litmus test of the state of the campaign setting, dying or giving up in proportion to the villains success. If the determined homesteaders start packing up and calling it quits, the heroes need to work harder!
- Good occupation for the Retired Gunfighter.
- In medieval Europe, people like this carve out assarts from the wildwood, in the dark ages Norse settlers occupy Greenland, Iceland and Vinlandia and in the classical era Roman veterani and their Hellenic equivalents settle conquered provinces. One day, colonists may once again have a frontier to settle as thw whole concept gets recycled in space.
- Note that in the real life "Wild west" a lot of the homesteaders were veterans of the War Between the States - bringing this into your western campaign may put a very different complexion on your Posse when you find that most of the small farmers and townsfolk you've rounded up are hardened ex-soldiers.
- This can also lead to a lot of MiniĆ© rifles kicking about … quite a lot of these veterans were sold their service rifle on discharge at a war surplus discount. It will be obsolete come the core cowboy era, but still quite capable of killing in the hands of a man who has plenty of experience with it.
- Also dynamite … this stuff was (by modern standards) surprisingly freely available and used widely used for land clearance so it wouldn't be at all surprising for homesteaders to have a few sticks to hand and be familiar with their use.
- Note that in the real life "Wild west" a lot of the homesteaders were veterans of the War Between the States - bringing this into your western campaign may put a very different complexion on your Posse when you find that most of the small farmers and townsfolk you've rounded up are hardened ex-soldiers.