The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 21, July 1917 - April, 1918 Page: 241
434 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Government of Austin's Colony, 1821-1831
paper for the application, title, and certified copy."S Until 1827
the original title was retained in Austin's office and a certified
copy given to the, settler, but, realizing the danger of losing loose
sheets, Austin asked and obtained permission to record titles in
a bound book.(9 The work of transcribing the documents and
verifying the copies was done by Austin and his secretary, Samuel
M. Williams, and Austin paid a draftsman $5 a day from his own
pocket to plat the survey at the end of each title.70 The volume,
in the General Land Office, bears eloquent testimony to his wise
and painstaking interest in the welfare of the settlers.
The fees which Austin demanded of colonists who settled his
later grants were frequently never paid. Hundreds of notes for
$50 each still preserved in his papers at the University of Texas
show that many of them did not make even the initial payment
on delivery of title. "No one was turned away, or ever waited
for his title, because he was poor," said Austin, and most of those
who paid did so with cows, horses, mules, hogs, corn, and other
produce at a price far above the market.71 At times, on the con-
trary, he even lent them the money to pay the surveyor and the
commissioner. Some money, however, was absolutely essential,
and -when he could Austin exacted cash from those who had it.
This caused complaints of partiality, in which, to Austin's sup-
prise, those who had profited most from his leniency and discrim-
ination sometimes joined. Characteristically, however, he offered
excuses for them: "They did not reflect that it was the interest
of all to get the settlement under way, and that if poor men had
been turned off because they could not pay their fees, the settle-
ment would have been thinned so much that it would have! been
totally broken up."
The main features of the system, as finally developed by Austin
may be restated for the sake of clearness: From the beginning
"Austin's "Notice" to the colonists, April 16, 1827. Austin Papers,
miscellaneous.
"Governor of the State to Gaspar Flores, Commissioner of Austin's
Colony, May 31, 1827. Land Office, Vol. 54, p. 105.
"0A Comprehensive History of Texas, I, 459.
7"Austin's statement to the Colonists; November 1, 1829, in Ibid., 462-
68: "I appeal to you all to say whether I would now get 40, 50, or 60
Dlls for horses which I have received at $100, 120, and 150 Dlls and all
other property in the same proportion."-Austin to his colonists, June
5, 1824. Austin Papers, miscellaneous.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 21, July 1917 - April, 1918, periodical, 1918; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101073/m1/247/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.