LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 December Signature Texana Auction #661  / 

56020

Stephen F. Austin Colony 1824 Land Grant Signed

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:14,500.00 USD Estimated At:25,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD
Stephen F. Austin Colony 1824 Land Grant Signed
<B>Stephen F. Austin Colony 1824 Land Grant Signed</B></I> "<I>Estevan F. Austin</B></I>," "<I>El Baron de Bastrop</B></I>," "<I>John Austin</B></I>," "<I>Samuel M. Williams</B></I>," "<I>Sylvenus Castleman</B></I>," and "<I>Benjamin Lindsey</B></I>," four pages, 8vo, front and verso. San Felipe de Austin, July 5, 1824. Spanish manuscript document conveying one league of land in Austin's Colony to Benjamin Linsey [sic, Lindsey]. The top line of his page: "<I>Sello 2 degrees 12 rrs. Habilitado pr la Nacion Mexicana pa el ano de 1824</B></I>" ("Second Seal 12 reales through the Nation of Mexico in the year of our Lord 1824") is signed "<I>Austin</B></I>." This document is Lindsey's copy of the grant. The "second seal" or Sello Segundo was given to the recipient and the "third seal" or Sello Tercero was the original first transcription held by the government. Sylvanus Castleman, alcalde of the jurisdiction, has acknowledged receipt of 12 reales as payment of transaction fees in the upper left of the first page. Manuscript note in English on page four: "<I>I hereby Transfer all my right title Claim & interest to the within deed To A.E.C. Johnson witness my hand this 27th July 1836</B></I>." Signed "<I>Benjamin Lindsey</B></I>," witnessed by "<I>Tho Lindsey</B></I>," "<I>A.A. Lewis</B></I>," and "<I>A.D. Bateman</B></I>." Recorded on May 1, 1838 by "<I>Edward Purcell</B></I>." Lindsey allegedly never settled on the grant and it was cancelled on December 15, 1830, at the official meeting of the ayuntamiento of San Felipe de Austin. The land was then granted to James F. Perry and Emily Austin, Stephen F. Austin's sister, on October 12, 1831. The facts surrounding the Lindsey grant are somewhat puzzling and the validity of his transferring it to A. E. C. Johnson, which was subsequent to its cancellation and release to James Perry, was disputed up to the 1850s without success. <B>Benjamin Lindsey</B></I> was one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred. This grant was one league (4,428 acres) of land in what is now Matagorda and Brazoria counties. By 1826. he was in the Ayish Bayou District, in a community referred to as the Tennessee Colony, about six miles northwest of what is now the town of San Augustine. Lindsey became the sixth and ninth alcalde of the Ayish Bayou District, elected in 1829 and again in 1832. When the old Ayish Bayou District became the Municipality of San Augustine, on March 6, 1834, Benjamin Lindsey was elected as the "Sole and Constitutional Alcalde" of San Augustine. On February 21, 1835, he was granted a league in what is now Sabine County. He died in San Augustine County three years later. <B>Sylvenus Castleman</B></I>, one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred, moved to Texas from Missouri, in 1821 or 1822, for in March 1822 Austin took a lot in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, as payment for surveying Castleman's land in Texas. Seth Ingram surveyed the Castleman land on the west side of the Colorado River above La Grange in 1823. Indians raided the Castleman farm and stole cattle from him just before Austin and the Baron de Bastrop lodged with him in August of the same year. In December, Castleman was appointed judge for the alcalde election and, being himself elected alcalde, took his oath of office on January 10, 1824, six months before signing this document. Philip Hendrik Nering Bogel, collector general of taxes for the province of Friesland, fled Holland when he was accused of embezzling tax funds and adopted the title <B>Baron de Bastrop</B></I>. By April 1795, he had arrived in Spanish Louisiana, where he represented himself as a Dutch nobleman. In 1803, Bastrop moved to Spanish Texas and was permitted to establish a colony between Bexar and the Trinity River. In 1823, he was appointed commissioner of colonization for the Austin colony with authority to issue land titles. Bastrop was chosen as representative to the legislature of the new state of Coahuila and Texas in May 1824. This land grant is accompanied by 1857 and 1858 letters concerning Lindsay's land sale to A.E.C. Johnson. English translation of Austin's land grant is present. This excessively rare document is housed in a half morocco case with gilt lettering on the spine: "Austin Colony Grant of Benjamin Lindsey 1824." <I>From the collection of Darrel Brown.</B></I><BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Books & Catalogs (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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