The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964 Page: 494
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
court house in Houston. The translation of Spanish documents con-
nected with land titles will be attended to.3
The next day, Stephen P. Andrews received a certificate for
64o acres of land in Harris County,' and on the last of May, 1839,
he signed Articles of Agreement with the Acting Secretary of
State to translate the Texas laws into Castilian." The abolitionist
had laid the ground for the work he was to do.
While he waited, he watched, and there was much to watch in
Houston as the city grew and changed. Only the year before, the
place could boast but 400 inhabitants and pine stumps still
cluttered the main street. But soon, Andrews could see the mud
holes filled in, brick sidewalks laid, farmers' wagons laden with
produce, and despite yellow plague and worthless currency he
could feel the spirit of the future-the spirit of "go-a-head" and
"up saddle-bags" like a wind over Houston. Out of Houston mud
rose Houston's frame buildings, and as Andrews wandered about
the town he saw the Fannin House and the Capitol Hotel, the
market house and arsenal, saloons, card houses and jockey clubs.
He saw Houston roads lined with ox and mule wagons carrying
cotton from the North and West; he heard the ox bells tinkle
through the night on the prairie; he watched the boats on Buffalo
Bayou; he observed emigrants crowding the streets along with
squads of land speculators-all of them armed with the omnipres-
ent bowie knife. With the thousands who poured into the city,
he, too, was an emigrant, enjoying the town built on the high
land whose banks, covered with evergreens, rose abruptly from
the river. He listened as Texans talked, over their "pork dodgers"
and "dough doings," of news of Indian raids or the bucket bri-
gade, the fluctuation of "Red Backs" or rumors of Mexican inva-
*Telegraph and Texas Register (Houston), April io, 1839, p. 3. The author is
deeply grateful to Ronald A. Seeliger, Newspaper Librarian, University of Texas
Library, for his generous help in the preparation of this study, especially in pro-
viding references from Texas and Louisiana newspapers.
'Abstract of Land Certificates Reported as Genuine and Legal, by the Travelling
Commissioners Appointed under the "Act to Detect Fraudulent Land Certificates"
(Austin, 1841), 122; Miscellaneous Certificate File, Third Class Certificate No. 169,
April 11, 1839 (General Land Office, Austin).
'Articles of Agreement .. 31st day of May 1839, Between David G. Burnet, acting
Secretary of State of the Republic of Texas, ... and Stephen P. Andrews (Public
Printing Papers, Archives, Texas State Library).494
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964, periodical, 1964; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101197/m1/572/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.