The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 32, July 1928 - April, 1929 Page: 14
361 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Hewetson. Titles to land were issued during 1835 by Jos6 Maria
Balmaceda, who had succeeded the earlier commissioner, Saucedo.48
If the empresarios could have continued their work, perhaps they
would have been successful. Brown (History of Texas, I, 342)
says that McMullen and McGloin fulfilled their contract so far as
time permitted. Circumstances, however, did not allow them to
continue their work. In November, 1835, the Texans took things
into their own hands and established a Provisional Government.
The plan for the Provisional Government contained an article
which brought the work of the empresarios to a close. The article
was as follows:
. . . all land Commissioners, Empresarios, surveyors or persons
in anywise concerned in the location of lands be ordered forthwith
to cease their operations during the agitated and unsettled state
of the Country, and continue to desist from further locations until
the land office can be properly systematized by the competent
authority which may hereafter be established.44
The issuing of titles was therefore stopped in November, 1835,
and in June, 1837, the government of the Republic of Texas
declared that all empresario contracts had ceased on the day of
the Texas Declaration of Independence, and that all vacant lands
were the property of the state.45
Before the government of Texas suspended the work of the
commissioners and empresarios, titles had been issued for eighty-
four grants of land" in the colony. Since the empresarios had
contracted two hundred families, we may say they were not suc-
cessful in fulfilling their obligations.
VI. OTHER EMPESARIOS
In this section have been grouped the empresarios who made
contracts with the government to establish colonies in Texas, but
who apparently failed in their endeavors. Of some of these, it
can be definitely stated that they accomplished nothing; but with
'8Original Titles to Lands granted in McMullen and McGloin's Colony,
Volumes LIX and LX of Spanish Archives in General Land Office of Texas.
"Gammel, Laws of Texas, I, 541-542.
4Gammel, Laws of Texas, I, 1324-1325.
4Original Titles to Lands granted in McMullen and McGloin's Colony,
Volumes LIX and LX of the Spanish Archives.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 32, July 1928 - April, 1929, periodical, 1929; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101089/m1/18/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.