Thomas Haynes Buys Most of the Musquiz Grant Land
As described previously, Joseph M. Coddington had sold the upper 7,000 or so acres of his Musquiz Grant land to Edward M. Glenn in 1845 (Book K, page 91), as shown here above the line across the map. The Jackson County tax collector decided that Coddington had sold 7,000 acres, meaning that Coddington still owned 17,354 acres. But apparently Coddington was confused about how much land he still owned because in his first deed to Glenn (Book D, page 22) he said he was selling “most of a tract of land granted to Ramon Musquiz.”) Probably because of this confusion, Coddington failed to pay the 1848 property taxes ($52.07, or $0.003 per acre) on the 17,354 acres, so that land was sold to the highest bidder on the steps of the Jackson County Courthouse in Texana on June 29, 1848. Thomas Haynes, who was the only bidder, paid the $52.07 in taxes, plus $3 in court costs (Book 1, page 27), and suddenly owned 17,354 acres of land, shown below the line across the map.
(Coddington had one year to decide that he had made a mistake in not paying his taxes, and could have reclaimed the land during that year simply by paying the overdue taxes, but he failed to do so.)
(Coddington had one year to decide that he had made a mistake in not paying his taxes, and could have reclaimed the land during that year simply by paying the overdue taxes, but he failed to do so.)
Thomas Haynes was an accomplished bidder for land being sold at a “sheriff’s sale” on the steps of the county courthouse. His father, “Squire Kit” (Christopher) was himself a sheriff in western Kentucky and conducted many such sales, and Thomas undoubtedly heard talk of such events. Thomas bought several tracts of land in western Kentucky (Caldwell County) in this manner, usually with spectacular payoffs. Since he was an attorney, he had to visit the courthouse frequently, and this allowed him to stay well-informed about these sales. He later moved his family to Louisiana and then to Texas, and brought along his practice of bidding for land at these sales. (But in Texas, the county sheriff is not responsible for such sales; rather, the county tax assessor/collector handles these chores.)