The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 8, July 1904 - April, 1905 Page: 116
xiii, 358 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
zales and, after the destruction of that place, in the Lavaca dis-
trict. When Gonzales began to build up again, Kerr, preferring
to remain at the Lavaca, had commissioned Byrd Lockhart deputy-
surveyor,1 to continue surveying about Gonzales. And now, when
Navarro, acting by the authority vested in him as commissioner,
made Lockhart the legal surveyor, these early surveys of Kerr and
Lockhart were approved.2 But the majority of the surveys were
made during the years 1831 and 1832. On November, 9, 1832,
Navarro sent to the political chief and to the governor complete
lists of the grants that had been made in DeWitt's colony.8 These
were approved by the government, May 23, 1833.4
The colonization law of March 24, 1825, allowed to each family
brought in by an empresario, if its occupation was cattle raising,
a sitio of land, and to each family whose occupation was farming,
a labor. If a family was engaged in both stock raising and agri-
culture it received both a sitio and a labor of land. A single per-
son was to receive only one-fourth as much, but, on marrying, the
other three-fourths were to be added, and, in case he married a
Mexican, an additional fourth was to be granted.
The expenses that each colonist incurred in acquiring this land
were the surveyor's fees, the commissioner's fees, the price of the
stamped paper upon which the original and the attested copies
of his title were made, and a small sum of money that was to be
paid to the state. The surveyor's fees were eight pesos for the
survey of a sitio, three for the survey of a labor, and twelve reales
for the survey of a lot.5 The commissioner's fees were fifteen
pesos for a sitio of grazing land, two pesos for a labor of tempo-
rales, and twenty reales for a labor of irrigable land.7
1 December 12, 1826 (Brown, History of Texas, I 129).
2 Navarro to Ram6n Musquiz ( August 1, 1831. Appendix to Empresario
Contracts, II 248-249. Byrd Lockhart was assisted in his surveying by
Charles Lockhart.
3 There were more inhabitants in the territory of De Witt's colony than
these lists showed. This is evident from the fact that town lots in Gon-
zales were given to individuals who never received headrights as colonists.
4Appendix to Empresario Contracts, II 273-274.
o Sayles, Early Laws of Texas, 1 78-80. The colonization law of March
24, 1825, section 39, had provided that the surveyor's fees should be fixed
by the commissioners. But because of the abuse that was liable to grow
out of such an arrangement the government in 1830 placed these fees at
fixed amounts.
' Sandy stretches near a river. They are not irrigated, but depend upon
rain and subirrigation from the river. In this way they are distin-
guished from irrigable and non-irrigable lands (THE QUARTERLY, III 63).
1Sayles, Early Laws of Texas, I 77.116
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 8, July 1904 - April, 1905, periodical, 1905; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101033/m1/118/?rotate=270: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.