Edward M. Glenn Buys 7,000 Acres at the Upper End of the Musquiz Grant
After the Texas Revolution, the Republic of Texas honored the Spanish and Mexican land grants, so Ramon Musquiz still owned his land, but he sold his 24,354 acres of Jackson County land to a cattleman named Cornelius VanNess, who then sold it to Joseph M. Coddington. Apparently to his disadvantage, Coddington was represented by someone else in all of his Jackson County land dealings.
Edward M. Glenn reported that he had purchased an approximately 5,000 acre portion of the Musquiz Grant from Joseph M. Coddington for $5,000 on June 25, 1845, in a deed filed in Washington County, where Coddington was represented by his attorney. (The deed was in Book D, page 22, when eventually recorded in Jackson County.) The upper boundary line was the upper line of the Musquiz Grant, which ran southwest, or S 45° W, from the Lavaca River out into the prairie. The lower boundary line was to be 5,100 varas (4,722 yards) “down the river” and parallel to the upper line.
(A “varas” is a measure of length or distance used by Spain and Mexico and therefore adopted by Stephen F. Austin when he was settling his Texas colonies. His version of a “varas” (there were two!) is equal to 33⅓ inches. To convert varas to yards, divide by 1.08. For area measurements, a “labor” (pronounced “la bore”) is 1,000,000 square varas (about 177 acres) and a “league” is 25 labors, or 25,000,000 square varas (about 4,428 acres). In most of the deeds considered here, lengths were measured in varas but fortunately, areas were measured in acres, rather than labors or leagues. Follow this link to Wikipedia's discussion of the various Mexican units of measure that were also used in Texas.)
Of course, there are two possible interpretations of the term “down to river” in this deed:
• The 5,100 varas measurement was supposed to be truly down the river; that is, measured along the river bank. In this case, the area of the tract would have been about 4,300 acres, as estimated when this area is drawn with Google Maps and the Area Measurement Tool is used.
• The 5,100 varas measurement was intended to be measured in a straight line from the upper line, and perpendicular to it, in order to yield the maximum area. In this case, the area of the tract would have been about 6,600 acres as measured in Google Maps.
Regardless of the intent of that deed, two months later, on August 20, 1845, in a deed (Book K, page 91 in Jackson County) filed in Victoria County, Glenn reported that he had purchased this 6,000 to 7,000 acre tract from Joseph Coddington for, quote: “three three hundred dollars.” (Did that mean $300 or $3,300? The recorded deed does say “three three hundred dollars,” so take your choice. The exact price is not important to anyone but Coddington and Glenn, but is still interesting. When a deed was recorded back then, it was manually copied into the deed record book, so the clerk may have accidentally repeated the word “three.” Or, just as possible, the clerk may have omitted the word “thousand” between the two instances of “three.”)
This second deed says “between six or seven thousand acres, more or less.” The upper boundary line was the upper line of the Musquiz Grant, as in the earlier deed. The lower boundary was to be 5,700 varas “in a straight line” (5,278 yards, or almost exactly 3 miles) away from and parallel to the upper line. This tract of Glenn’s is at the very top of the Musquiz Grant. Please note that this area is not the same as area (G1) in other maps; rather, it is about 1,900 acres larger than (G1). As will be explained later, it included 1,900 acres on the lower end which became part of the Haynes place land. Using Google Maps, this tract has an area of approximately 7,300 acres.
So what was going on, and which deed told the true story, or did both deeds need to be considered together? The location of the lower boundary line, and thus the area of the tract, was paramount. Measuring 5,100 varas down the river (note the big bend to the east) yields much less area than measuring 5,700 varas in a straight line from the upper boundary.
It is possible that Glenn purchased the land in two parts, the first for $5,000 and the second for $3,300, and simply re-described the entire area in the second deed for clarity by replacing the ambiguous “down the river” terminology with the “in a straight line” terminology. Regardless, the second deed was honored, along with an assumed area of 7,000 acres, leaving 17,354 acres of Musquiz Grant land that Joseph Coddington still owned, and that Thomas Haynes would eventually acquire.
We know nothing of the discussions, debates, or even lawsuits that may have evolved from these two seemingly incompatible deeds. (Jackson County has no records of court cases or county commissioners’ meetings from those early days.)
In modern-day terms, this tract contains all of the land in the Koop Settlement, plus several thousand acres of farm land to the southwest of FM 234. It extends from above CR 311 almost all the way down to CR 313.
After the Texas Revolution, the Republic of Texas honored the Spanish and Mexican land grants, so Ramon Musquiz still owned his land, but he sold his 24,354 acres of Jackson County land to a cattleman named Cornelius VanNess, who then sold it to Joseph M. Coddington. Apparently to his disadvantage, Coddington was represented by someone else in all of his Jackson County land dealings.
Edward M. Glenn reported that he had purchased an approximately 5,000 acre portion of the Musquiz Grant from Joseph M. Coddington for $5,000 on June 25, 1845, in a deed filed in Washington County, where Coddington was represented by his attorney. (The deed was in Book D, page 22, when eventually recorded in Jackson County.) The upper boundary line was the upper line of the Musquiz Grant, which ran southwest, or S 45° W, from the Lavaca River out into the prairie. The lower boundary line was to be 5,100 varas (4,722 yards) “down the river” and parallel to the upper line.
(A “varas” is a measure of length or distance used by Spain and Mexico and therefore adopted by Stephen F. Austin when he was settling his Texas colonies. His version of a “varas” (there were two!) is equal to 33⅓ inches. To convert varas to yards, divide by 1.08. For area measurements, a “labor” (pronounced “la bore”) is 1,000,000 square varas (about 177 acres) and a “league” is 25 labors, or 25,000,000 square varas (about 4,428 acres). In most of the deeds considered here, lengths were measured in varas but fortunately, areas were measured in acres, rather than labors or leagues. Follow this link to Wikipedia's discussion of the various Mexican units of measure that were also used in Texas.)
Of course, there are two possible interpretations of the term “down to river” in this deed:
• The 5,100 varas measurement was supposed to be truly down the river; that is, measured along the river bank. In this case, the area of the tract would have been about 4,300 acres, as estimated when this area is drawn with Google Maps and the Area Measurement Tool is used.
• The 5,100 varas measurement was intended to be measured in a straight line from the upper line, and perpendicular to it, in order to yield the maximum area. In this case, the area of the tract would have been about 6,600 acres as measured in Google Maps.
Regardless of the intent of that deed, two months later, on August 20, 1845, in a deed (Book K, page 91 in Jackson County) filed in Victoria County, Glenn reported that he had purchased this 6,000 to 7,000 acre tract from Joseph Coddington for, quote: “three three hundred dollars.” (Did that mean $300 or $3,300? The recorded deed does say “three three hundred dollars,” so take your choice. The exact price is not important to anyone but Coddington and Glenn, but is still interesting. When a deed was recorded back then, it was manually copied into the deed record book, so the clerk may have accidentally repeated the word “three.” Or, just as possible, the clerk may have omitted the word “thousand” between the two instances of “three.”)
This second deed says “between six or seven thousand acres, more or less.” The upper boundary line was the upper line of the Musquiz Grant, as in the earlier deed. The lower boundary was to be 5,700 varas “in a straight line” (5,278 yards, or almost exactly 3 miles) away from and parallel to the upper line. This tract of Glenn’s is at the very top of the Musquiz Grant. Please note that this area is not the same as area (G1) in other maps; rather, it is about 1,900 acres larger than (G1). As will be explained later, it included 1,900 acres on the lower end which became part of the Haynes place land. Using Google Maps, this tract has an area of approximately 7,300 acres.
So what was going on, and which deed told the true story, or did both deeds need to be considered together? The location of the lower boundary line, and thus the area of the tract, was paramount. Measuring 5,100 varas down the river (note the big bend to the east) yields much less area than measuring 5,700 varas in a straight line from the upper boundary.
It is possible that Glenn purchased the land in two parts, the first for $5,000 and the second for $3,300, and simply re-described the entire area in the second deed for clarity by replacing the ambiguous “down the river” terminology with the “in a straight line” terminology. Regardless, the second deed was honored, along with an assumed area of 7,000 acres, leaving 17,354 acres of Musquiz Grant land that Joseph Coddington still owned, and that Thomas Haynes would eventually acquire.
We know nothing of the discussions, debates, or even lawsuits that may have evolved from these two seemingly incompatible deeds. (Jackson County has no records of court cases or county commissioners’ meetings from those early days.)
In modern-day terms, this tract contains all of the land in the Koop Settlement, plus several thousand acres of farm land to the southwest of FM 234. It extends from above CR 311 almost all the way down to CR 313.