Researching Texas Land and Property Records

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1 Researching Texas Land and Property Records Teri E. Flack, MA, MBA, FTxSGS Land records constitute a major genealogical resource in Texas. There are two primary places to research land and property records in Texas: the Texas General Land Office and county clerk s offices. Land in the public domain was distributed by the Texas General Land Office. Today the GLO maintains a comprehensive records archive, which includes the records of various grants, such as headright grants; bounty, donation, and other military grants, empresario colonization contracts; pre-emption grants; loan and sales scrip; and internal improvement grants. The GLO retains the public land records created by the Spanish and Mexican governments prior to the Texas revolution. Other useful GLO sources for research include clerk returns, which were registers of land grantees and patentees compiled by the local land boards, and the court of claims records. Once land was transferred to private hands, the deed was recorded in the county clerk s office. The county clerk s offices throughout the state maintain deed and other property records going back to the beginning of the county. Public Lands GENERAL PRINCIPLES FOR RESEARCHING TEXAS PUBLIC LANDS Laws varied by time period and determined eligibility requirements, the amount of land, the cost, and the location. The grant only entitled the recipient to a specific amount of land, the grant did not specify the location of the land. The patentee (the person obtaining the land) of the land may not be the grantee (the person qualifying and receiving the grant). With most grants, a grantee could sell the grant, in which case, the patentee actually owned the land. The patentee did not always live on the land. A woman with a family was a head of household and eligible for a grant. The Texas General Land Office, the first governmental agency established by the First Congress of the Republic of Texas 1, administered the distribution of Texas public lands. The statute also established the elected office of county surveyor, charged with surveying the public lands, and local boards of land commissioners, to determine persons qualified to receive land grants. RESEARCHING AT THE TEXAS GENERAL LAND OFFICE The GLO operates an archives reading room in which researchers may access original GLO records. In addition, the GLO has digitized many documents and made them available on the GLO website. The Texas GLO has created numerous informational documents describing the history of the public lands in Texas. The documents may be accessed on the GLO website at 1 Peter Gammel, An Act to reduce into one act, and to amend the several acts relating to the establishment of a General Land Office, Laws of the Republic of Texas, Teri Evelyn Flack 1

2 Search collection guides at Identifying Land Grants at the GLO. The General Land Office has made it easy to identify grantees and patentees through an online index system. The interactive land grant search is found at Grant Search or The GLO has also posted pdfs of their surname lists, which can be very helpful in figuring out how a surname might ve been spelled. Those lists may be accessed through Surname Index or The GLO has digitized many of the grants and other information in its collections. If there is a digitized version of the grant, court of claims record, or clerk return a pdf symbol will be displayed. If the grant has not yet been digitized, you will need to visit the GLO to view it or order a copy from the GLO. Land Measurement. Texas used the Spanish method of measuring land. Unlike U. S. federal lands, which use a grid system of township, section, and range, Texas land uses metes and bounds to describe land. Metes and bounds refer to measuring boundaries using distance, direction, and landmarks. The metes are the boundaries established by measuring each straight run between two points in a specific direction. The bounds are the landmarks, such as roads, watercourses, trees, rocks, and adjacent neighbors property lines found along the metes. Land in Texas was measured using the Spanish measurements of leagues, labors, and varas. The smallest unit of measurement in Texas was the vara, which is 33 1/3 inches. When measuring a straight run between two points, the surveyor measured it in the number of varas. Thirty-six varas equaled 100 feet. The area of land was measured against a square league, designated in Spanish as a sitio de ganado major or a large cattle ranch. One league equaled 5,000 varas square, which equaled 4,428.4 acres (2.63 miles square). In addition, a person could be awarded a labor of land, which was the amount of land sufficient for one family to farm. One labor equaled 1,000 varas square or acres (0.53 miles squre). Following independence, Texas continued using varas, leagues, and labors to measure the land. Land Grant Process in Texas After The process of issuing land grants and perfecting original land titles involved four steps: Step 1: Qualified individuals were issued a land certificate for a specified amount of land. Certificates were issued by local land boards, the GLO, the Court of Claims, the Adjutant General, or the Secretary of War, depending on the type of grant and time period in which the grant was issued. Step 2: The grantee (person to whom the land certificate was awarded originally) or the assignee (person who owned the certificate) located available land from the public domain and had the land surveyed. The field notes (a written description of the survey) were filed with the GLO. Step 3: After fulfilling any conditions of the grant, such as making improvements and paying required fees, the individual applied for a patent (the original title from the government transferring the land to the first private owner) from the GLO. Step 4: The patent was filed with the county clerk in the county in which the land was located, just as any deed was filed. At that point, the grantee or assignee became the patentee and the legal owner of the property. Land patents filed with the county clerk are indexed like all other deed records (grantor and grantee). The grantor is listed under the name of the president of the Republic or the governor of the state of Texas Teri Evelyn Flack 2

3 GLO Map Collection. The TxGLO is home to over 45,000 maps, including pre-republic maps, county landowner maps, plat maps of cities, and state and county maps. Many of the maps are available digitally to view online; however, you can order printed versions from GLO as well. To search for an image and to order a map see: GLO Mapping Tool. The GLO has developed a mapping tool enabling researchers to plot land grants on contemporary maps. Called GIS at GLO it may be found following this trail: Land>GIS Maps & Data>Launch GLO-GISWEB Viewer, or To find the land, all you need is the abstract number and county, which you can find through the online index. TEXAS GENERAL LAND OFFICE RECORDS Spanish Colonial and Mexican State Periods Spanish Collection. Includes over 5,000 land titles, covering 26 million acres, issued by Spain and Mexico from 1720 to Associated documents include registers of families, field notes, character or admission certificates, official correspondence, and empresario contracts. The records of the Old 300, are included in these records. Although originally written in Spanish, the GLO staff has provided transcriptions of many of these records. Republic of Texas Period The GLO s archives include records of individual tracts of land, land certificates, claims files, and land ownership maps. Within each file, records may include land certificates, field notes, patents, certificate transfers, duplicate certificates, powers of attorney, and in certain cases, evidence presented by an individual to prove his claim for a certificate, such as affidavits and depositions. Headright Land Grants. A grant entitled the recipient to locate and have surveyed a specified amount of available public land (the grant did not designate a specific tract). Applicants for headright land grants presented two or more creditable witnesses and swore (1) they met the requirements for the grant, (2) they had not left the country to avoid participating in the war, and (3) they had not assisted the enemy. Claimants paid a $5 fee for the issuance of the certificate. First Class Headright. (Arrived before March 2, 1836) Heads of families: one league (4,428 acres) & one labor (177.1 acres); single men 1/3 league (1,476.1 acres). Second Class Headright. (Arrived between March 2, 1836 and October 1, 1837) Heads of families: 1,280 acres; single men: 640 acres. Third Class Headright. (Arrived between October 1, 1837 and January 1, 1840) Heads of families: 640 acres; single men: 320 acres. Fourth Class Headright. (Arrived between January 1, 1840 and January 1, 1842) Same as third class headrights plus required to cultivate 10 acres. Military Land Grants. Awarded for military service prior to and during the Texas revolution. Bounty Grants. Grants for military service during the Texas Revolution. Each three months of service provided 320 acres, to a maximum of 1,280 acres. The Republic of Texas also issued Bounty grants for guarding the frontier ( ) soldiers received certificates for 240 acres. Donation Grants. Grants issued for participation in specific battles of the Revolution. Soldiers who fought in the Siege of Bexár and/or the Battle of San Jacinto (including the baggage detail at Harrisburg), and the heirs of those who fell at the Alamo and Goliad were eligible for 640 acres Teri Evelyn Flack 3

4 Military Headright Grants. Special headrights to (1) soldiers who arrived in Texas between March 2 and August 1, 1836; (2) the heirs of soldiers who fell with Fannin, Travis, Grant and Johnson; or (3) soldiers who were permanently disabled. Statehood Periods (Before and After the Civil War) Court of Claims ( ). (Online at TxGLO) Adjudicated issues related to military grants after a fire destroyed the warrant and muster rolls of the Adjutant General s Office; issued certificates to those eligible who had not yet received them; adjudicated claims for headright and colonization grants and claims for compensation for services and supplies furnished to the Republic. Pre-Emption Land Grants. Following the Compromise of 1850 Texas public lands consisted of 98 million acres. Texas issued pre-emption (homestead) grants to encourage settlers to live on and make improvements to the land (also called Scrip land). Following the Civil War, freed slaves used the grants to establish new homes. Railroad Grants. The Constitution of 1876 authorized grants to railroads of 16 sections for every mile of track laid. Although repealed in 1882, 43 railroad companies sold about 28 million acres. Researching Land Records at the County Clerk s Office Types of information typically Found in Texas land records (see Anatomy of a Deed on p. 6) Names and county of residence of Grantors and Grantees (Sellers and Buyers) Location of Property Property Description Consideration or purchase price Acknowledgement by notary public or county official Dates of Execution and Filing The following information might be found in a deed: Names of Neighbors Names of Witnesses (not required, but possible) Original/Previous Owner(s) of Land Types of Land and Property Records Typically Found in Texas Deed Records Deeds Land patents Mortgages Releases Power of Attorney Sale of personal property 2017 Teri Evelyn Flack 4

5 Deed Indexes At the county level, deeds are indexed by both the seller and the buyer Grantor-Grantee or Direct Grantee-Grantor or Reverse Consolidated Indexes Compiled later Usually typed May exclude no-longer relevant documents (e.g. powers of attorneys, chattel mortgages, personal property transfers) Usually does not include every name: Et ux and wife Et al and others Special Considerations when researching land records in Texas Acknowledgements, Usually No Witnesses. Instead of witnesses, Texas deeds include an acknowledgment taken by a notary public or county official (usually the county clerk). The notary verifies the identity of the person executing the deed. Community Estate/Separate Property. Texas Constitutions and laws have recognized a husband and wife s interest in the community estate of the marriage since the beginning of the Republic. The community estate consists of all property obtained by husband and/or the wife during the marriage. It excludes the separate property of each spouse, which is property brought into the marriage, or received by a husband or wife through gift, devise, or descent during the marriage. Separate Acknowledgement by Wife. For a homestead or a wife s separate property to be sold, the wife was required to join in the conveyance and sign her name. The conveyance could not take effect until she acknowledged it privately and apart from her husband before an officer authorized to take acknowledgements. Homestead. The Texas Constitution of 1876 established that when a husband or wife died, the homestead descended in the same manner as other real property of the deceased and was governed by the laws of descent and distribution, but it was not to be partitioned among the heirs during the lifetime of the surviving spouse (or as long as the spouse continued to live there). Beyond a property owner s deed, where else might property ownership be identified? Neighbors deeds Probate records Land Grants Military records Court records Tax Records Newspaper notices 2017 Teri Evelyn Flack 5

6 Elements of a Texas Deed State & County Name(s) & residence of Grantor (Seller) Consideration Name(s) & residence of Grantee Description of Land Date signed Grantor s signature Location where grantor signed the deed Private examination of wife Acknowledgment (by county clerk or notary public) Date filed and recorded by county clerk 2017 Teri Evelyn Flack 6

7 SELECTED RESOURCES 1. Ariens, Michael. Lone Star Law: A Legal History of Texas. Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, Darrow, Carol Cooke and Susan Winchester. The Genealogist s Guide to Researching Tax Records. Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, Eichholz, Alice, ed. Redbook: American State, County, and Town Sources. Rev. ed. Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry, Greenwood, Val. The Researcher s Guide to American Genealogy. 3rd Ed. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2000; reprint Hatcher, Patricia Law. Locating Your Roots: Discover Your Ancestors Using Land Records. Cincinnati, OH: Betterway Books, Hone, E. Wade. Land & Property Research in the United States. Salt Lake City, UT: Ancestry, Jensen, Jens Peter. Property Taxation in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Luebking, Sandra Hargreaves. Court Records, Land Records, and Vital Records. In The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy, edited by Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking. 3rd ed. Provo, UT: Ancestry, Miller, Thomas Lloyd. The Public Lands of Texas: Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, Portal to Texas History, University of North Texas texashistory.unt.edu Gammel, Hans Peter Nielsen, comp. Laws of Texas, vols. Supplements published through Available online at [Early Texas laws] Raines, Cadwell Walton. Analytical index to the laws of Texas, Austin: Von Boeckmann-Jones Co., Printers, 1906 [index by topic of Gammel s Laws of Texas] 11. Rose, Christine. Courthouse Indexes Illustrated. San Jose, CA: CR Publications, (Describes all of the different types of deed indexing systems) Courthouse Research for Family Historians: Your Guide to Genealogical Treasures. San Jose, CA: CR Publications, (Describes strategies for conducting research in county courthouses) 13. John Sylvester Stewart. Law of Taxation in Texas. Chicago: TH Flood & Co., Digital image. Internet Archive Jean A. Stuntz. Hers, His, & Theirs: Community Property Law in Spain & Early Texas. Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, Teri Evelyn Flack 7