(b) Where her husband is incapacitated by disease or otherwise from earning 

 a support for his family and the wife is really the head and main support of the 

 family. 



(c) Where the husband is confined in a penitentiary and she is actually the 

 head of the family. 



(d) Where the married woman is the heir of a settler or contestant who dies 

 before making entry. 



(e) Where a married woman made improvements and resided on the land ap- 

 plied for before her marriage, she may enter them after marriage if her husband is 

 not holding other lands under an unperfected homestead entry at the time she ap- 

 plies to make entry. 



The marriage of the entrywoman after making entry will not defeat her right 

 to acquire title if she continues to reside upon the land and otherwise comply with 

 the law. 



A widow, if otherwise qualified, may make a homestead entry notwithstanding 

 the fact that her husband made an entry and notwithstanding she may be at the 

 time claiming the unperfected entry of her deceased husband. 



Soldiers and Sailors. 



A person serving in the Army or Navy of the United States may make a homestead 

 entry if some member of his family is residing on the lands applied for, and appli- 

 cation and accompanying affidavits may be executed before the officer commanding 

 the branch of service in which he is engaged. 



The act of July 28, 1917 provides, that any person serving in the army or navy 

 of the United States, in any war in which the United States may be engaged, shall 

 in the administration of the homestead laws, have his services therein applied to 

 purposes of residence and cultivation of the tract entered or settled upon for the 

 same length of time as he is in the service. If discharged from the service on 

 account of wounds or disability, his full term of enlistment shall count rather than 

 the length of time he was in the service. However, no patent shall be issued to 

 any homesteader who has not resided upon, improved, and cultivated his homestead 

 for a period of at least one year. 



If any person serving in the Army or Navy of the United States, dies while 

 actually engaged in the service, then his widow, if unmarried, or in case of her 

 death or marriage, his minor orphan children, or his or their legal representatives, 

 may proceed to make final proof. The death of such person, while so engaged, 

 shall be construed to be equivalent to a performance of all requirements as to 

 residence and cultivation upon such homestead. 



How to Proceed. 



A homestead entry may be made by the presentation to the land office of the 

 district in which the desired lands are situated, of an application properly prepared 

 on blank forms prescribed for that purpose and sworn to before either the register 

 or receiver, or before a United States commissioner, or a judge, or a clerk of a 

 court of record, in the county in which the land lies, or before any officer of the 

 classes named who reside in the land district and nearest or most accessible to 

 the land, although he may reside outside of the county in which the land is situated. 



Each application to enter and the affidavits accompanying it must recite all the 

 facts necessary to show that the applicant is acquainted with the land; that the 

 land is not, to the applicant's knowledge, either saline or mineral in character; that 

 the applicant possesses all the qualifications of a homestead entryman; that the 

 application is honest and in good faith made for the purpose of actual settlement 

 and cultivation, and not for the benefit of any person, persons or corporation; 



