Some of the land ownership around the Blevins area was acquired via Land Patents.  According to the paper Of Kings, Patents, Swamps and Reprobates: A History of Title Departing the Sovereigns of Arkansas with Title Curative Titles, written by J. Mark Robinette Jr..... 

"Land patents are the ordinary means title passing from the USA into private hands in Arkansas. Patents were authorized under many acts of Congress. The early acts included land grants to reward military service (Military Bounty Lands), and the US was in need of cash, so the government also authorized the sale of Western lands (Cash and Credit Entries) to raise revenue.

The citizens of the early US were as cash strapped as their government. Both the cash entry and credit entry laws failed to raise the revenue  projected, the government eventually decided that settlement would lead the way to more revenue. Thus, the Homestead Act of 1862 was born. It is the seminal law in the disposal of public domain lands into private hands. Under the Act, anyone 21 years of age or older who was head of his household could claim up to 160 acres by simply living on and cultivating the land for 5 years and paying a $15 fee. Most patents in the State of Arkansas were issued under the authority of the 1862 Act. The Act did not limit the grant to less than fee simple, but it also did not authorize settlement of Mineral Lands. This rarely was an issue with Homestead Act because of the unscientific nature of determining Mineral Lands during the time period. Minerals discovered on Homestead Lands subsequent to the issued patent incontrovertibly passed to the patentee." [1]

Source

1 Robinette, J. M. (2012). Of Kings, Patents, Swamps and Reprobates: A History of Title Departing the Sovereigns of Arkansas with Title Curative Titles. Annual of the Arkansas Natural Resources Law Institute. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/anrlaw/95