The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 75, July 1971 - April, 1972 Page: 337
566 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Anglo-American Penetration of the Southwest
337
Grant were both made in December, 1843. A third grant was made
in the same month to Gervacio Nolan along the St. Charles River
in Colorado. Smaller grants were made along the northern and eastern
frontiers, some of which have since been disallowed or restricted by
Congress and the Court of Private Land Claims."
Foreigners, of course, were not technically eligible for grants of
land unless they received specific authorization from Mexico City.
But New Mexico's Departmental Assembly approved petitions from
Anglo-Americans as long as one Mexican citizen was included in the
group. Parole agreements were not challenged."
Though Armijo appeared to show favoritism to wealthy foreigners,
critics must bear in mind that several of these grantees promised
financial support which the central government had refused to give.
The Sutton Grant, for example, was a reward for considerable sums
of money advanced to the local government. As A. P. Wilbar
noted when the grant came to the attention of the Surveyor Gen-
eral's Office:
It was doubtless in consideration of this indebtedness to him [Sutton]
by the government that this grant was made, as in the case of the grant
by the same authority to Antonio Sandoval . . . and in many other
instances which might be cited where grants of land were made to in-
dividuals in consideration of advances of funds to the government, or the
contribution of some distinguished or important service to the State."1
It is also recorded that Carlos Beaubien, part owner of two of the
"See U.S. Bureau of Land Management, papers relating to New Mexico Land Grants,
Records of the U.S. Surveyor General of New Mexico and the U.S. Court of Private
Land Claims, microfilm (University of New Mexico). These papers are best approached
by using the guide to the microfilms: Albert James Diaz, A Guide to the Microfilm
of Papers Relating to New Mexico Land Grants (Albuquerque, 196o). Among the
grants which date from the period in question are Vigil-St. Vrain, Sangre de Cristo
(Lee-Beaubien), Gervacio Nolan, Ufia de Gato, Jos4 Sutton, Jornado del Muerto, An-
tonio Sandoval, Ojo del Apache (Damasio Salazar), Sierra Mosca, and others. Harold
H. Dunham, "New Mexican Land Grants with Special Reference to the Title Papers
of the Maxwell Grant," New Mexico Historical Review, XXX (January, 1955), 1-22,
has challenged this theory about the reasons for Armijo's land-grant policy because of
Armijo's part ownership in several of these grants. Dunham suggests possible collusion
between Anglo-Americans and New Mexican officials. He also questions the dates on
certain grants, implying that Armijo might have granted lands prior to the United
States invasion for reasons other than those suggested in this study. Further research
will be necessary for clarification of Armijo's real motives.
SOMinge, "Frontier Problems," So6. Armijo himself was involved in two such agreements.
"1A. P. Wilbar, Decision on Claim No. 45, Jos6 Sutton, September 5, 1861, in
U.S. House of Representatives, Executive Documents, 37th Cong., and Sess. (Serial
1137), Doc. No. 112, p. 12.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 75, July 1971 - April, 1972, periodical, 1972; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101201/m1/349/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.