Definitions
Certificate: A document issued by the government of the Republic and State of Texas, usually by a County or District Board of Land Commissioners, the General Land Office, the Texas Court of Claims, the Adjutant General, or the Secretary of War, entitling a grantee to a certain number of acres of land in the unallocated public domain. Not specific parcel of land was connected to this document - it was the responsibility of the grantee to find their own land and have it lawfully surveyed. These certificates could be sold or transferred. The right to locate, survey, and patent the land passed to the assignee, although for the purposes of reference the name of the original certificate holder is retained as a means of identifying the surveyed tract. For some types of grants two certificates were issued - a conditional and an unconditional. A conditional certificate was issued in order to give the grantee the right to occupy a portion of the public domain, while the unconditional certificate was issued only after the completion of certain requirements (i.e. the land had to be lived on for three years, a portion of the land had to be cultivated).
Title: Document by which land was conveyed from the public domain into private ownership. Titles were issued by the governments of Spain and Mexico.
Patent: A form of land title by which land was transferred from the government to the private sector. Patents were issued by the Republic of Texas and continue to be issued by the State government.
Empresario: An individual who contracted with either the state of Coahuila y Tejas (Mexico) or the Republic of Texas to introduce colonists.
Texas Land Measures
The basic unit of measure for surveying in Texas is the vara, which is equal to 33 1/3 inches;
36 varas = 100 feet
League: 4428.4 acres
Labor: 177.1 acres
Section: 640 acres or 1 square mile (U. S. land surveying under the Public Land Survey System)
Spanish and Mexican Land Records, 1720-1836
The Spanish Collection of the General Land Office contains the land titles issued by Spain (1720-1821) and Mexico (1821-1836) in Texas, along with associated documents such as character certificates, registers of families, and field notes. See http://www.glo.texas.gov/what-we-do/history-and-archives/_documents/spanish-and-mexican-records.pdf for a description of these records.
Headrights, Republic of Texas, 1836-1845
In order to build a tax base and encourage settlement in the new Republic of Texas, immigrants were granted land by the government. The amount of acreage issued was based on the time period in which an immigrant arrived in Texas.
First-class headrights: Issued to those who arrived before the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836. Heads of families were eligible for one league and one labor of land (4605.5 acres) and single men were eligible for 1/3 of a league (1476.1 acres).
Second-class headrights: Issued to those who arrived between March 2, 1836 and October 1, 1837. Heads of families were eligible for 1280 acres and single men were eligible for 640 acres.
Third-class headrights: Issued to those who arrived between October 1, 1837 and January 1, 1840. Heads of families were eligible for 640 acres and single men were eligible for 320 acres.
Fourth-class headrights: Issued to those who arrived between January 1, 1840 and January 1, 1842. The amounts issued were the same as for a third class headright with the added requirement that ten acres be cultivated.
Colonization Laws of the Republic of Texas
Four empresario colonies were established under contracts with the Republic of Texas: Peters' Colony (1841), Fisher and Miller's Colony (1842), Mercer's Colony (1844), and Castro's Colony (1842). Heads of families were eligible for 640 acres of land, while single men were eligible for 320 acres. The land had to be located within the confines of the colony and settlers were required to cultivate at least 15 acres in order to receive a patent.
Preemption Grants, Republic and State of Texas
From 1845 to 1854, individuals could claim 320 acres of land from the unappropriated public domain. The amount was reduced to 160 acres in 1854 and the grant program was cancelled in 1856. Preemption grants of 160 acres were reinstituted in 1866 and continued until 1898. To qualify for a preemption grant settlers were required to live on the land for three years and make improvements.
Military Land Grants, Republic and State of Texas
The Republic and State of Texas both issued land grants as additional compensation for those who served Texas in the military. The government of Texas, for most of the 19th century, had very little cash with which to pay soldiers, so our most abundant resource - land - was used to supplement the meager military pay.
Bounty grants: Issued for military service by the Republic of Texas to soldiers who served in the Texas Revolution and to those who enlisted in the army before October 1, 1837. The amount of land granted varied depending on length of service. Each three months of service provided 320 acres, up to a maximum of 1280 acres. Often the heirs of a soldier who died in battle would be granted the full 1280 acres on the assumption that the fallen soldier would have served for the duration of the war. Under a separate law, the Republic of Texas extended bounty grants from 1838 to 1842 to soldiers guarding the frontier.
Donation grants: Issued by the Republic of Texas for participation in specific battles of the Texas Revolution. Soldiers who fought in the Siege of Bexar and the Battle of San Jacinto, including the baggage detail at Harrisburg, received certificates for their service. The heirs of those who fell at the Alamo and Goliad also received certificates. It must be noted that the Congress of the Republic continually changed the acreage allotted under these grants, so there were Donation grants for differing acreages, although most certificates were issued for 640 acres. In addition, donation grants were also provided by the State of Texas, under an act of the legislature passed in 1879, to surviving veterans of the Texas Revolution and signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. To qualify for this type of donation grant a veteran must either have received a bounty grant or been eligible for one. The donation law of 1879 provided 640 acres of land and rehired proof of indigence. This law was amended in 1881 and increased the donation amount to 1280 acres and dropped the indigence requirement. This donation program was repealed in 1887.
Military headrights: Issued to those volunteer soldiers who arrived in Texas after March 2, 1836 and before August 1, 1836 and who received an honorable discharge from service. This program insured that those who arrived and served during this time period received the same amount of land as the original Texas colonists - that is, the same amount of land as allotted by a first-class headright. Military headrights are also issued to the heirs of those who fell with Fannin, Travis, Grant, and Johnson. The confusing nature of the law, passed in 1838, seems to have limited the number of such headrights actually issued.
Confederate scrip certificates: Provided by the State of Texas to Confederate veterans from Texas who were permanently disabled, or to their widows. These grants were in the amount of 1280 acres of land. The law providing for this land grant program was passed in 1881 and repealed in 1883.
Loan and Sales Scrip, Republic and State of Texas
Loan scrip was a land certificate issued to provide for or repay loans made to the government of Texas. Sales scrip programs were a means of selling off the public domain to generate revenue. Most of the scrip issued was done in order to cover the costs associated with the Texas Revolution and as a way to pay off the debts incurred by the Republic of Texas.
Internal Improvement Scrip, Republic and State of Texas
Internal Improvement Scrip was issued as a means of paying for infrastructural development in Texas. Land was granted in lieu of payment in cash to contractors and investors. All legislation authorizing internal improvement scrip was repealed in 1882.
School Land, State of Texas
Sale of lands to fund the school system of Texas began in 1874. Until 1905 the amount of land that could be purchased as well as the price, method of purchase, and eligibility requirements varied a great deal. Legislation in 1905 required that the school lands be sold through competitive bidding. Purchasers could buy a maximum of four sections with residence required in most counties, or eight sections with no residence required in other designated (western) counties.
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