The Lure of Free Land

Who wouldn't love to receive free land? Free ANYTHING? There's a FREE BOOK for you at the end of this informational post about  the early pioneers who came to Texas for free land! DOn't miss that!

From Colonial times, England granted land to Pilgrims willing to willing to cross the ocean and settle in a new land. The Spanish then Mexican governments granted free land to pioneers in the form of headlights, and some of the impresarios such as Moses Austin was given over thirty thousand acres in their quest to settle Texas.

What’s an impresario, you ask? A person responsible for bringing large numbers of folks to colonize an area--an organizer and promoter in this case--serving the government.

Once the Republic won its independence at the Battle of San Jacinto, the newly formed First Congress established land offices and granted land certificates through the secretary of war. Over thirty-eight thousand land claimants asked for over fifty million acres of the public domain in a span of two years.

Even though Texas had vast amounts of land, the amount to be given away kept getting reduced. Originally the First Class Headrights provided all heads of families living in Texas on the day of the Declaration of Independence—except Africans and their descendants and Indians—a league and a labor.

What’s a league and a labor, you ask? Four thousand and five acres. Single men seventeen years or older got one-third of a league which is one thousand four hundred seventy-six acres.

Second Class Headrights were granted to heads of families (two sections equal twelve hundred eighty acres—or a mile square) and single men (one section, six hundred and forty acres) who came after the Declaration of Independence, but before October 1st, 1837.

The amount of land given was cut in half again from October 1, 1837, until January 1, 1842. Six hundred forty for a family man and three hundred twenty for single men. This was the period when the pioneers in GONE TO TEXAS made their journey from Tennessee, lured by the prospect of free land.

My characters—the O’Neals, Worleys, Van Zandts, and Harrells--also bought a First Class Headright—which could be sold or traded—for market price, ending up with over six thousand acres around what is now the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Of course, in 1840, John Neely Bryant hadn’t even established the first trading post in Dallas

For the recipients to become the legal owners of this land, they were required to mark the boundaries, have it surveyed, go before the land commissioners with two credible witnesses to testify they were married (if applicable), had lived on the property for three years, and had a minimum of ten acres under cultivation for each of those three years.

Then they paid five dollars of which the commissioner got half with the rest being divided among the other members of the board. Of course, there were disputes. It got so bad in Shelby County, President Sam Houston had to send in the militia to stop the guess.

GONE TO TEXAS launches tomorrow, September 6th, in the First Annual Thanksgiving Books and Blessings Collection. It covers the journey of seventeen souls, swindled out of their life savings in Tennessee, to get themselves and their belongings to the new Republic to claim some of the free land being offered. Wrought with danger and strife, troubles and trials they traversed over six hundred miles in forty-two days in covered wagons!



Don’t miss this exciting three hundred eighty-five page start to my all new Cross Timbers Romance Family Saga. It’s available as pre-order today!

And we—the other eight Thanksgiving Books & Blessings Collection authors and myself--are having a Launch Day Celebration tomorrow with GIVEAWAYS all day long! Frist join the Facebook Group of that name Thanksgiving Books & Blessings then click over and click GOING to the Launch Day Celebration that starts tomorrow at 10 a.m. and runs through 7 p.m. with new giveaways every hour!

PLUS! FREE TODAY! For all of you! Book three of the Texas Romance Family Saga (ten novels covering 1832-1951 and five generations of Buckmeyers, Baylors, and Nightingales) is HOPE REBORN! Each book is a stand-alone five-star Christian historical romance to keep you turning pages!

BIO: Caryl McAdoo prays her story brings God glory which is what she lives to do. Her 5-star novels novels are well received by Christian readers and attest to the Father’s favor and blessings. With thirty-seven titles, she loves writing almost as much as singing the new songs He gives her—listen to a few at YouTube. She and high school sweetheart Ron celebrated fifty years of marriage in June and share four children and eighteen grandsugars. The McAdoos live in the woods south of Clarksville, seat of Red River County in far Northeast Texas, waiting expectantly for God to open the next door.


LINKS :
Author Pages:
     Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Caryl-McAdoo/e/B00E963CFG
     BookBub - https://www.bookbub.com/authors/caryl-mcadoo
     Simon & Schuster - http://tinyurl.com/S-SCarylsPage
     BookGorilla - http://www.bookgorilla.com/author/B00E963CFG/caryl-mcadoo
     Southern Writers Magazine - http://authors.southernwritersmagazine.com/caryl-mcadoo.html
     Sweet Americana Sweethearts - bit.ly/2q0tcfFbit.ly

Website: http://www.CarylMcAdoo.com 
                     
Newsletter: http://carylmcadoo.com/sign-up-to-the-caryler/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_1hQx6UZbWi3OYwmKKxh6Q
    (Hear Caryl sing her New Songs!)
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CarylMcAdoo.author

Blogs:
    The Word & the Music http://carylmcadoo.com/blog/
    HeartWings (Devotional) - http://www.HeartWingsBlog.com
    Sweet Americana Sweethearts (Historical) -
                 http://www.SweetAmericanaSweethearts.blogspot.com

GoodReads:  http://tinyurl.com/GoodReadsCaryl

Google+: http://tinyurl.com/CarylsGooglePlus

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caryl-mcadoo-00562323

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/CarylMcAdoo

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/CarylMcAdoo

Puzzle: https://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=193c56405c86

Headrights for Texas Settlers

Even before Texas became a Republic, the Spanish then the Mexicans were giving land grants to encourage settlers to come to live in Tejas.

Moses Austin became an empresario, entering into a contract with the Spanish government in January 1821, agreeing to bring three hundred Catholic families to settle along the Brazos River lands. He selected colonists, allocated lands and oversaw the Mexican law.

When he died, his son Stephen F. Austin took over the contract. Other important empresarios were Green DeWitt, Benjamin Milam, and Sterling Robertson and several others. Each head of household was awarded a league (four thousand four hundred twenty-eight and four-tenths acres of grazing land) and a labor (one hundred seventy-seven and one-tenth cropland) and the empresario, for his compensation, received five leagues and five labors for each one hundred families he settled.

After Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836, the Republic of Texas was born. The cash-strapped new nation used land grants to pay off the veterans of San Jacinto and other battles and awarded heads of families a First Class Headright—a league and a labor, over four thousand acres per man. That the settlers be of the Catholic religion was no longer a requirement.

As more pilgrims answered the call and journeyed to Texas for a new start, the Republic stopped giving First Class Headrights. Though the previous recipients who held the certificates could transfer ownership. The new owner could settle the land, survey it, and were required to live on it for three years in order to patent it—receive title deed to the land.

Up until October 1837, the second class headrights (Twelve hundred eight acres for heads of household and half that for single men were awarded) were offered, and after until January 1840, the grants went to third class giving half those amounts. After January 1840, fourth class headrights with the same acreage (six hundred forty to families, three hundred forty for single men) were issued by the Congress of the Republic of Texas.

This was why my fictitious families, the O’Neals, Van Zandts, and Worleys, headed to Texas from Tennessee in GONE TO TEXAS, the coming-in-September book one of my new Family Saga series Cross Timber Romances. It will also be a part of an exciting new collection fashioned around my favorite holiday—Thanksgiving! Be watching for more news about the Thanksgiving Books & Blessings Collection!
 
The headrights didn’t mean a man owned the land, only that he had a right to make it his own by following the  requirements. To own it, he had to mark the corners, live on it three years, farm ten acres in a crop, survey it, then take care of the paperwork at one of the thirty-eight Government Land Offices (GLO) across the Republic where the Texas settler became a citizen landowner, claiming his title deed for the land.

So if you’re ever driving through Texas and some ranches stretch on for mile after mile, like the Cross Arrow right down the Farm-to-Market from me here in Red River County, rest assured that once upon a time, someone like Henry Buckmeyer, the patriarch of my Texas Romance Family Saga (1832-1950, over ten decades and five generations—nine books strong) obtained vast properties by marking the corners, living on it, farming a portion of it, then taking care of their paperwork at the GLO (government land office).

Bio: Caryl McAdoo prays her story brings God glory, and a quick scroll through her novels’ rankings by Christian readers attests to the Father’s faithfulness. She loves writing almost as much as singing the new songs He gives her—look her up on YouTube to hear a few. Her high school sweetheart husband won her heart fifty-two years ago and in June 2018, the McAdoos celebrate their Golden anniversary. Blessed with four children and seventeen grandsugars, Ron and Caryl live in the woods south of Clarksville, seat of Red River County in far Northeast Texas, waiting expectantly for God to open the next door.

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