Texas General Land Office - 11 Matching Results

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Stories of the Old Land Office
Pamphlet printed by the Texas Capital Visitor's Center. Contains a foreward and two O. Henry short stories: "Bexar Scrip 2692" and "Georgia's Ruling." Both stories take place in the old land office building where O. Henry worked as a draftsman, and both are about Texas land grants.
My Recollections of O. Henry (W. S. Porter)
Multiple typescript copies of a short character sketch describing O. Henry as a young man in the late 1800s, before he was a published writer. O. Henry worked as a draftsman at the General Land Office and for Maddox Brothers and Anderson.
O. Henry Relics Guarded by State Land Office
Photo essay containing images of photos, maps, and documents describing the General Land Office Archives holdings related to O. Henry. Includes a photo of Land Commissioner Bascom Giles standing next to O.Henry's drafting table in the Land Office.
In O. Henry's Memory
Photo essay includes images of O.Henry's life in Austin, including the Hill City Quartette, houses O. Henry lived in, sketches by O. Henry and letters by his daughter Margaret Porter.
Patent 87, Volume 40-A
This document was issued to the Houston & Texas Central Railroad Company as the final instrument in the land grant process, assigning ownership to the railroad company for 640 acres in Tom Green County, section 21, block 20, as described in the patent. O. Henry wrote a fictional account of illegal proceedings concerning a land certificate, Bexar Scrip 2692, in the short story "Bexar Scrip 2692.” This is the patent that ultimately gave land ownership to the railroad via that certificate.
The Texas Trail of O. Henry
Newspaper article includes sketches and photos of O. Henry and friends. Describes O.Henry's life and his time in Austin.
Map of Kent County
Cadastral map of Kent County, Texas in the Panhandle Plains region. Scale ca. 1:133,334 (4000 varas per inch). Shows boundaries and ownership of land, including that of several railroad companies. Compiled and drawn by William S. Porter, later known as the short story writer O. Henry. Map is notable for its landscape drawings near the top.
Map of Webb County
Cadastral map of Webb County, Texas in the South Texas Plains region. Some features are marked in color and some sketched illustrations around the title. Scale ca. 1:133,334 (4000 varas per inch). Authorship is attributed to W.S. Porter, later known as the short story writer O. Henry.
Receiver's Memorandum
These two pages are exerpts from a 141-page Receivers Memorandum dated 1887-1888. Pages appear to show payroll advances to O. Henry, here identified by his given name William S. Porter or W.S. Porter, for the months of June 1887 through December 1887. These pages are written in O. Henry's hand, and show his signature several times.
Roster of Employees in the General Land Office
Ledger contains lists of General Land Office employees, their job titles, and monthly earnings. Excerpted here are 98 pages covering January 1887-January 1891, which are the dates O. Henry was employed at the land office. W.S. Porter, later known as the writer O. Henry, is listed as draftsman, compiling draftsman and assistant draftsman, earning $100 per month. Porter's name appears on roughly half of the pages.
Bexar Scrip 2692
Copy of a land Grant file for land issued to the Houston & Texas Central Railway Company in the Bexar Land District. Includes a folder jacket with table of contents and notes about the land grant (filed July 12, 1928); field notes by M.J. Doyle, Deputy Surveyor, Bexar Land District for Section 21 Block 20 (January 13, 1873); the affidavit of ownership of S.N. Allen (July 12, 1928); and a note by Land Commissioner J.H. Walker indicating that the file has no relation to the O. Henry story of the same name (December 4, 1933). O. Henry’s story tells the tale of a Railroad baron taking a poor homesteader’s land by stealing this file. Walker notes that although the file was missing for a period, due to office procedures the land fraud could not have occurred.
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