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

True Light

What a wonderful thing is light, freeing mankind from the holds of darkness!

The Chicago World’s Fair of 1900 ushered in the new century. Nikola Tesler and Westinghouse beat out Edison to light the event. While the promise of new technology to light the world dawned, the true Light of the World worked on different plans.

William Seymour, a young black believer born to former slaves, and though originally baptized into the Catholic faith, grew up a Baptist. As a young man hungry to learn of the Holy Ghost and discover His place in the church, he sat in the hallway of a Houston Bible school to hear and soak up the teaching of God’s Word. In 1903, Texas law prohibited a black man from sitting in class with whites.

Before long, with the promise of employment as pastor of Julia Hutchins’s Holiness Church in Los Angeles, Seymour moved there, exhausting all his available funds on the trip. Then within two weeks of him preaching the power of the Holy Spirit, Hutchins expelled him for his radical teachings.

However, one church member wanted to hear more—as did others—and invited then unemployed Seymour to stay at his place where a prayer group began and grew until it moved to the larger home of Richard Asberry where more and more folks came to the house on Bonnie Bray Street.

One evening there, Holy Ghost power came like a mighty rushing wind. Believers spoke in unknown tongues and spontaneous miracles and healings erupted. Attendance swelled to the point of clogging the neighborhood streets. Twenty-four hours around the clock, it continued for three days. So many pressed onto the porch for the opportunity to hear, the structure collapsed.

Someone suggested an African Methodist Episcopal church building on Azusa Street not far away, and for the next three years, they held services from 10 am to 10 pm seven days a week.

The church’s collection of no-longer-needed crutches and wheelchairs grew as quickly as its congregation.

Most of that time, it’s told Pastor Seymour kept his head in the lectern, praying. In the meetings, one would have a hymn, another might offer a scripture; prophecy and words of knowledge or exhortation flowed.

Read testimonies (from those who attended the Azusa Street Revival)

Gradually, years passed and crowds waned; fewer miracles happened less often, but Seymour pastored the Azusa Street congregation until his death in 1922 when his wife—who’d miraculously learned to play the piano and speak Hebrew—took over the ministry until she joined him in Glory.

I found it interesting the first public mention of the now-famous revival took place on the same day as the great San Francisco earthquake of April 18, 1906. The Pentecostal/holiness movement that spread from Azusa Street across America morphed in the latter part of the century into the charismatic movement that gave birth to most of our present day non-denominational churches.

As in the time of Elijah when the Lord said, "Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him." (Kings 19:18) He always has a people who hunger for more—more of Him, His righteousness, and His glory made manifest.

THE WORD

THE MUSIC

♥✞ ♪♫•✫This little light of mine ✞♪*•♫♪ I’m gonna let it shine!♫•✫ This little light of mine ♪♫•✫ I’m gonna let it shine!✞♪♫•✫♫♪ This little light of mine, ✞♫•✫ I’m gonna let it shine!✞♪♫•✫*♪•.♪ Let it shine! ♫•*♪*•♫♪ Let it shine! ✞♪♫•.♪♫ Let it shine!!!✞ ♪♫•✫♥

In MIGHTY TO SAVE, book nine of the Texas Romance family saga, you'll experience being on Bonnie Bray Street, where the Azusa Street revival started when the Nightingales go. Lacey Rose is healed, Charley gets right, and Evelyn's beloved gives his life to God. Readers have told me they felt like they were there.

I really enjoyed doing the research for that portion of this novel that debuted in May. CHIEF OF SINNERS launches this September, the last of the series . . . maybe :)

GIVEAWAY

I've learned it's impossible to outgive God! I'll offer a free print copy of VOW UNBROKEN, book one in the series to one of my commenters below! Be sure to leave me a way to contact you!

BLESSINGS!

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-one years ago, now they share 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. 

LINKS: Author Pages: Amazon    BookBub    Simon & Schuster     BookGorilla   

Southern Writers Magazine    Sweet Americana Sweethearts   //   Website   (All First Chapters offered here)  //  Newsletter, The Caryler  //  YouTube  (Hear Caryl sing her New Songs!)  //  Facebook  //  Blogs with The Word & the Music:  HeartWings  (Devotional)   Stitches Thru Time (Misc.)    Sweet Americana Sweethearts (Historical) GoodReads  //  Google+   //  LinkedIn  //  Twitter  //  Pinterest  //  Puzzle

Release Day for Ione's Dilemma, Book 8

One aspect of writing IONE’S DILEMMA, as part of the Grandma’s Wedding Quilts series, that I found so fun was finding all the differences from an established city to a frontier one. And how I could exploit those differences regarding a young woman who was living on her own for the first time as she attempts to put her college-gained knowledge into practical use in a classroom. Which of course cannot go smoothly.

Ione Forrester escaped a scandalous situation in her hometown of Des Moines, Iowa by accepting a schoolteacher position in Texas. Besides being a good teacher, her biggest goal is to avoid any more gossip. Which ends up being exactly what she keeps causing. Ione’s efforts are made all the more difficult by Morgan Shipley, the town’s carpenter, who decides she is the woman he wants to court.

The outcome is funny and heartwarming and touching. Small-town romance at its frustrating best. This title is book 6 in the Dorado, Texas series

Here’s a sneak peek:

Morgan got his first good look at the new arrival. Close up and in person, she was shorter than she’d appeared on the street. Several inches less than his six-foot height. The burgundy dress she wore was far and away of finer quality than any other woman in the room. His sisters, Betia and Dina, would know the exact fabrics. All he knew was the dress’s style highlighted a well-formed figure, hugging each curve. The color complimented her fair hair and creamy skin. The newest resident was very attractive, and he looked forward to becoming better acquainted.

A thought niggled in the back of his mind, and he averted his gaze. Letters from three prospective mail-order brides sat on the table in his room, awaiting his next reply. What business did he have paying special attention to a new boarder?

“There you are.” Missus Treadwell waved a hand at the empty chair at the opposite end of the table. “Have a seat, and we’ll get to introductions in a moment. I’ll say what I always do when a new person joins the household. On behalf of myself and my children, the Treadwells welcome you. We hope you’ll feel comfortable enough to address each of us by our given names. I like to foster a family atmosphere in my establishment. Mealtimes are seven in the morning and half past six in the evening. Be prompt, and you’ll find plenty to satisfy your hunger. No talk of religion or politics allowed, and of course, no swearing or alcohol under this roof.”

Morgan tracked the woman’s progress around the backs of the occupied chairs to the empty one to Penn’s right. He noticed everyone else watched her movements, as well. Strangers in this small town were always objects of speculation—like he’d engaged in hours earlier. Lowering to his seat, he again forced himself to look away to avoid appearing rude.

“Ivey, will you announce tonight’s menu?” Missus Treadwell unfolded her napkin then started serving big spoonfuls onto plates and passing them.

As she pointed to the meat platter, Ivey grinned. “The main course is a ragout of pork with mushrooms, wild onions, and turnips.” She gestured toward other bowls. “Mashed potatoes with chopped garlic and parsley, pickled beets and artichoke hearts, buttered corn, and rolls.” She removed the cover from the closest bowl and scooped a spoonful of potatoes onto the plate before handing it to her left. “As is probably obvious, I’m the cook here at the boardinghouse.”

“Berg Spengler, town blacksmith.” The bear of a man ducked his head as he passed the plate.

“I’m Maisie Treadwell, and I’m the maid.” The woman with honey-blonde hair served a portion of beets and handed the plate top the next person, quickly repeating the gesture with the next one.

“I hope the potatoes don’t have too much garlic.” A dark-haired boarder giggled. “I have to work tonight.” She added a serving of cut corn and passed the plate. “Oh, I’m Olivia Domingo, and I am a barmaid at the Golden Door.”

Morgan glanced across the table in time to see the new woman’s eyes shoot wide and her backbone straighten before she passed the plate to Penn.

Then she pulled her expression back to neutral. “My turn, I suppose.” The stranger leaned forward and gave a little wave.

Ah, she speaks. Morgan savored the sweet sound of her voice.

“My name is Ione Forrester, and I have been hired to be Dorado’s new schoolteacher.”

“Welcome to Dorado, Miss Forrester. We’re glad you’ve joined us.” The rapid words spewed from his mouth before Morgan gave them any thought. Which made him look like an awkward schoolboy.

Special release day price of 99 cents January 16^th only.

Amazon buy link

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