The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 32, July 1928 - April, 1929 Page: 25
361 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Empresario Contracts for the Colonization of Texas
Iken, believing that he had a title to forty thousand acres of
land, the amount of scrip purchased, sent a group of nearly a
hundred colonists to Galveston43 in 1836. From that point they
expected to proceed to the colony of Beales and the Mexican com-
pany, who had issued the scrip. The people of Galveston were
indignant that Woodward, who was then the consul of the Republic
in New York, should have so deceived Iken.44 J. Hamilton of
Houston, Texas, asked President Lamar to persuade Congress to
provide the unfortunate colonists with lands.48
Judge Woodward defended himself by saying he had told Iken
the scrip might not be of any value and for him to be careful.
He also claimed that the notes Iken gave him in payment were
worthless.46
Beale's last efforts to realize something from this and the other
grants, in which he was interested, will be discussed in the Beales
and Grant Colony.
Beales and Grant
With the last of his contracts, Beales apparently made a deter-
mined effort to establish a colony. On October 9, 1832, Beales and
Dr. James Grant made a contract to introduce eight hundred
families in the territory between the Nueces and Rio Grande
rivers." A company, the Rio Grande and Texas Land Company,
was organized in New York to promote the colonization scheme.
Beales, as empresario, launched the sale of scrip; but he also
attempted the settlement of a colony. In November, 1833, fifty-
nine colonists embarked from New York for Aransas Bay48
From the Bay they passed overland by way of Goliad, Bexar and
other points until they reached a small tributary of the Rio
Grande. The last of December the colonists led by Beales reached
the point which they named Dolores. The town was laid out;
homes were being built; and a church had been started when it
"Lamar, Mirabeau Buonaparte, Papers . . . (Charles Adams Gulick,
Jr., and Katherine Elliott, eds.), III, 299-300.
44Ibid., III, 299-300.
"Ibid., III, 214.
"Ibid., III, 322-328.
"Translations of Empresario Contracts, 15.
"Kennedy, Texas: the Rise, Progress, and Prospects of the Republic of
Texas, II, 31.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 32, July 1928 - April, 1929, periodical, 1929; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101089/m1/29/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.