John C. Gallion (1805-1877), Gone To Texas

Mexican Land Grant 

John C. Gallion, my third great grandfather, and the first of my ancestors to settle in Texas, received a land grant from the Mexican government on June 19, 1835 for a league of land which consisted of 4428.4 acres.  In his petition to the empresario, Lorenzo de Zavala, he stated:

     "I, John Gallion - a native of the United States of America, with all due respect present myself before you and state: That attracted by the generous provisions of the laws of colonization of this state I have come, with my wife and five children, to settle in it and to determine if, in view of the attached certification, you may see fit to admit me as a colonist in the above-mentioned land grant, granting to me the amount of land that is due me in the uncultivated portion of the same, taking into consideration that I am a farmer and cattle rancher.
     Therefore, I beg of you to grant my petition, by which I shall be justly favored."

                                                                     Nacogdoches, April 21, 1835
                                                                     (signed) J. C. Gallion

This is the report of the commissioner and special agent for the land grant of Lorenzo de Zavala:

     "I certify that the interested party is one of the colonists who has been admitted by my constituent in fulfillment of the contract he has made with the Supreme Government of the State under date of March 12, 1829.  Therefore, you can issue an order for the surveying of the land he is seeking."

                                                                     Nacogdoches, April 21, 1835
                                                                     (signed) Lorenzo de Zavala
                                                                     by his Proxy (or Attorney)
                                                                     Arthur Henrie

John Gallion's Petition for Land Grant (Spanish)

John Gallion's Petition for Land Grant (English)

Texas Resident and Conditions of Colonization

This indicates that John Gallion had resided in Texas since 1829 but he did not petition for land until 1835.  The colonization law of March 24, 1825 states that in exchange for a small fee, heads of families could obtain as much as a league or sitio (4428.4 acres) of grazing land and a labor (177.1 acres) of cropland.  Under the provisions of the decree foreigners had to take an oath promising to obey the federal and state constitutions, practice Christianity (meaning Catholicism), and prove their morality and good habits.  After agreeing to these conditions and establishing residence, foreigners became Mexican citizens.  The Law of April 6, 1830 by the Mexican government was initiated primarily to prohibit or limit immigration from the United States by suspending existing empresario contracts.   In addition, a commissioner of colonization was appointed to supervise the empresario contracts to make sure they were in conformity with the colonization laws.  This law and its requirements also lead me to believe that John Gallion was in Texas by 1829 since the commissioner mentioned his fulfillment of the contract and immigration was banned the following year.

Texas, 1836-1845
(partial, showing Zavala's Grant in East Texas next to Louisiana border and proximity to Natchitoches, Louisiana)

Character Certificates

Character certificates were issued by local authorities in Nacogdoches to settlers who intended to petition for land grants in that area.  I believe this is the "attached certification" John Gallion is referring to in his petition.  These certificates may give place of origin, year of immigration, marital status, and size of the settler's family.  These certificates provided proof of good character which was required to become eligible to receive land.  Character Certificate from Texas General Land Office with the remarks: native of Kentucky, family of 6 persons.

Character Certificate for John Gallion

Early Life and Family

John C. Gallion was born in Kentucky about 1805 and was the youngest child of Elijah and Eleanor Jenkins Gallion.  He married Sarah Roberta Rhodes about 1825, probably in Kentucky since that is where the first of six daughters, Sena Roberta Gallion was born on March 2, 1826.  By 1830, they had moved to Sullivan County, Indiana according to the 1830 census.  They had three more daughters born in Indiana; Ellen born in 1830, Lucy born in 1831, and Phoebe born in 1833.  Sometime after 1833 the growing family migrated to Texas and were listed in the 1835 Sabine District, Texas census with a fifth daughter, Dalphia, age two months, and are of the Catholic faith (one of the requirements of Mexican citizenship).  Dalphia is later referred to as Dollhean or Dollie for short.

John Gallion must have been on the road most of the time to have been in Nacogdoches, Texas by 1829 and still managed to have three daughters that were born in Indiana during the next four years. His parents had also moved from Kentucky to Sullivan County, Indiana and were neighbors to John and his family on the census so Sarah was not alone and had help when her husband was gone.  John also had two older brothers, James Hawkins Gallion and William A. Gallion, who migrated to Louisiana around 1828 and settled in Natchitoches county.

Eleanor Jenkins Gallion's Request for Land Grant Certificate

According to an article submitted by Sarah Roberta (Rhodes) Gallion, in the book Trinity County Beginnings, Volume I,  "Eleanor Gallion, widow, mother of John Gallion, appeared in the courthouse of St. [sic] Augustine County before the St. Augustine Land Commission on June 30, 1838.  She stated that she was a widow, came to Texas in 1834, applied for land grant of 1 league and 1 labor. Headright certificate for 1 league and 1 labor was granted by the General Land Office, but was never located and surveyed."

On June 1, 1872, the Board of Land Commissioners of San Augustine County, Texas issued a duplicate certificate to Eleanor Gallion for one league and one labor of land.   A league of land and an additional 2352 acres was surveyed in Runnels and Coke counties - Patent No. 371, Vol. 21, dated November 29, 1875 was complete.

Duplicate Certificate of Land Grant for Eleanor Gallion

Protest Filed by Heirs of Eleanor Gallion

However, a protest was filed at the General Land Office in Austin on January 13, 1876, by Henry V. McCall, protesting the delivery of the patent to any person, stating that he represented the heirs of Eleanor Gallion.  There was a response to the protest by J. W. Lawrence on May 30, 1877, stating that he represents the heirs of Eleanor Gallion, had located and patented the land.  And lastly, Mrs. M. F. Rodgers appeared before a Justice of the Peace in Erath county on February 4, 1898 stating that she is the sole legal heir of Eleanor Gallion, deceased, and as such heir is entitled to the possession of Patent No. 371, Vol. 21 issued to said Eleanor Gallion for 1 league and 1 labor of land in Coke and Runnels counties.  That is the final document found regarding this certificate.

Gallion Family in Texas

John Gallion was listed on the following lists in Texas:  1836 tax list for Sabine District, 1840 tax list for Nacogdoches County, 1846 tax list for Houston County, and the 1846 Republic of Texas Poll lists for 1846.  John C. Gallion and family was on the 1850 census in Houston County, Texas in the household of his sister, Nancy Gallion James, her spouse Jesse James, and their son John James.  John and Sarah Gallion's family now included their sixth daughter, Eliza N., age 14, and born in Louisiana.  The first recorded permanent white settler in this area was Jesse James, who settled on Alabama Creek in 1844, near a large Indian settlement.  In 1845 John Gallion moved into the settlement and purchased the Indians' livestock and improvements.  The Indians moved away and it is unknown as to where but it seems they may have moved to the Indian Territory.  On February 11, 1850, the Texas legislature established Trinity County.  John Gallion, Jesse James, and five other men, were appointed to a commission to locate the center of the county and to select the two most desirable sites within five miles of the center suitable for the site of the county seat and to hold an election to determine which would receive the most votes.  In 1854 Sumpter, a primitive village, was declared the county seat.  In September of 1855, John Gallion purchased two land certificates, one from John Conklin for 320 acres, and the other, also for 320 acres, from Thomas L. Trevathan, his son-in-law.  Both tracts of land were located in Trinity County near the Trevat community.  The land was developed into a cattle ranch and farm where John lived out the remainder of his life.  I have found no other record of John Gallion after the purchase of the land in 1855. His wife, Sarah, is on the 1860 census living with her daughter, Phoebe Rogers, in Caldwell, Burleson, Texas but no record of John.  Sarah Gallion is a widow, age 75, on the 1880 census for Trinity County, Texas and living with daughter Lucy Pope who is also a widow, and four of her children.   In article mentioned above in Trinity County Beginnings, Volume I, Sarah Roberta (Rhodes) Gallion also stated that " The probate court decree for settlement of estate of John Gallion, deceased, is on file in the County Clerk's office, Groveton, Trinity County, Texas."  I have been unable to find his probate record but there have been a couple of courthouse fires in Trinity County in the late 1800s and it's possible this record was lost in a fire. Other genealogists have John Gallion's date of death as 1877 but I have found no proof or documentation to support this date.

News of the fall of the Alamo reaches Gonzales and Gen. Houston,
spurring retreat of the settlers eastward.
(www.sanjacinto-museum.org)

Runaway Scrape

There was an incident known as the Runaway Scrape which occurred in early 1836 during the Texas Revolution when settlers were advised by General Sam Houston to evacuate their homes as Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna began his conquest of Texas and moved eastward after the fall of the Alamo. It's probable that John Gallion took his pregnant wife and daughters and fled to Natchitoches, Louisiana to stay with one of his two brothers who lived there and this would explain why their youngest daughter, Eliza, was born in Louisiana instead of Texas.  John Gallion was also in the Texas Militia from January 12, 1836 to December 1, 1836 according to the Index to Military Rolls of the Republic of Texas.  John was 31 years old during this period and many of the younger, more able-bodied men stayed behind to protect their homes and fight, if necessary.  Their families traveled in oxen carts and on foot with neighbors.  They returned after the news of the victory in the battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836.  There are many journals and recorded memories passed down by the settlers who endured this frightening experience of running from their homes and the ruthless Santa Anna.

Texas land was wild, beautiful and plentiful but it took a great deal of courage and true grit to be an early Texas settler.


Sources:

The Portal to Texas History, (http://texashistory.unt.edu)

Bowles, Flora Gatlin, 1881-. A History of Trinity County Texas, 1827-1928. Groveton, Tx: Groveton Independent School District, Publisher, 1966.

Hensley, Patricia B. and Joseph W., editors. Trinity County Beginnings. Edited for the Trinity County Book Committee, 1986.

Texas General Land Office, established 1836. (www.glo.texas.gov).

Texas State Historical Association, A Digital Gateway to Texas History, (www.tshaonline.org).

Categories of Land Grants in Texas

Land grants in Texas were issued under various governments, the Crown of Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, and the State of Texas.  The laws varied regarding the distribution of the public domain and understanding the land grant process is confusing.  As a genealogist and sixth generation Texan, it has been a challenge in the research of my ancestors and their land.  These explanations which I found at http://www.glo.texas.gov/what-we-do/history-and-archives/_documents/categories-of-land-grants.pdf helped me to understand the documents better and determine the dates in which some of my ancestors emigrated to Texas.

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.

The End of the Unappropriated Public Domain in Texas

In Hogue v. Baker (1898) the Texas Supreme Court declared that there was no more vacant and unappropriated land in Texas.  In 1900 an act was passed "to define the permanent school fund of the State of Texas, to partition the public lands between said fund and the State, and to adjust the account between said fund and said state; to set apart and appropriate to said school fund, the residue of the public domain..."  Thus all of the remaining unappropriated land was set aside by the legislature for the benefit of public schools.