Using the Texas General Land Office Facilities
The land granted to individuals for their personal use or to empresarios (developers such as Stephen F. Austin) by Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas or the State of Texas eventually was recorded and mapped by the Texas General Land Office (GLO). The GLO has a technologically-sophisticated mapping system that makes its extensive collection of historical maps available over the web, with full panning and zooming capabilities for many maps. Consequently, if a tract of land can be traced back to an original land grant in a certain county, the location of that land probably can be determined from a GLO map. That is the technique used to locate several of the tracts of land bought and sold by Thomas Haynes.
In many of the early land grants in Texas, a settler was given a total land area commonly called "a league and a labor," or 4,428 acres plus 177 acres. The labor of land was almost always along some watercourse, such as a river or creek, in order to provide water and bottom land for timber and firewood, as well as to grow crops. The league of land adjoined the labor did not necessarily include any bottom land, but was to serve as pasture land for raising cattle. Later land grants tended to be much smaller and filled in the areas between the larger, earlier grants. For a look at Texas GLO historic map 3709, which is an 1865 map of some actual land grants in Jackson County, follow this link on the way to a digitized version of the map. (Unfortunately, I cannot take you all the way to a specific GLO map with a single link; you will have to do part of the navigating.) The link above will take you to The Map Collection page. Once there, click on Search Historic Maps, which will take you to the Archive Maps page. On the lower part of the page in the Map/Document # field, enter the map number (3709) and click Search. Click on the magnifying glass to use the zoom-in feature to see more detail. When the map is re-displayed, click on the "+" to zoom in some more. Can you find the Ramon Musquiz Grant land? It's there; just look for the red smudge on the map (and the words "Ramon Musquiz," of course!) In fact, the red smudge is right on top of the area that became "the Haynes place!" Very convenient! Then move "east" across the Lavaca/Navidad River, and you will find a two-league tract granted to Stephen F. Austin himself. Pretty neat, wouldn't you agree? (Austin's colony extended only to the east side of the Lavaca. Martin de Leon's colony included the land on the west side of the river in this area.)
Accessing the GLO Main Page
The Texas General Land Office is a veritable treasure trove of Texas history documents, including a tremendous collection of superbly-digitized maps from the days of the Texas Revolution and thereafter. Charged with keeping track of land ownership in Texas since it was created by Sam Houston as the first state agency, the GLO has not only maps, but hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of documents, including many historical documents that are not even related to land ownership. The GLO has also developed facilities for preserving and re-publishing historic documents, and even sells excellent copies of historic maps at very reasonable prices. The GLO seems that have been recently revamping its on-line facilities, and its main web site address is now www.glo.texas.gov. It's a very large web site, so navigation can be kind of daunting at first, as the example above indicates. If you can't find your way to something of interest, check out the historic maps. Once you're a the GLO site, click the What We Do/Our Collections link, then Our Collections, then Map Collections, then Search Historic Maps.
Directly Accessing the GLO Map Collection
To go straight to the historic maps collection, go to www.glo.texas.gov/what-we-do/history-and-archives/the-collection/ArcMaps/index.html. Then click Search Historic Maps. On the lower half of the page, various search criteria may be entered. For example, to see a list of all the maps available for a given county, simply pull down the list of county names and choose one. Then click Search. This will produce a list of (perhaps several dozen or more) thumbnail sketches of the maps for that county, and you can browse through the list of maps, look at a map if it appears to be interesting, and even order a copy of it. If you know the GLO map number for a map of interest, enter the map number in the Map/Document# field and click Search. Click the magnifying glass for more detail.
Some of the maps I have used are listed below, with map number, date of publication, and very brief review:
Jackson County
3184 dated 1840, survey of grants between the Garcitas and the Lavaca; very faint
3707 dated 1840, shows land grants, including date of grant, but only east of the Lavaca River.
At that time, land west of the Lavaca River was in Victoria County.
3708 dated 1840, shows land grants, including lengths and bearings of property lines (clearer than map 3707)
This is apparently a companion to map 3707.
3709 dated 1865, shows land grants, including land west of the Lavaca River
3710 dated 1896, updated version of earlier maps; a good map
77324 dated 1920, GLO Official Map of Jackson County; a very readable map
Calhoun County
887 dated 1863, a nice map, shows railroads to Port Lavaca and Indianola
888 dated 1871, someone's working map, with editing, a nice map
670 dated 1879, a very good map
Victoria County
4115 dated 1858, shows land grants, all the way east to the Lavaca River
4116 dated 1873, shows land grants, but not all the way east to the Lavaca River except at the upper end
4117 dated 1895, shows land grants, all the way east to Texana, but apparently based on prior data
Lavaca County
3802 dated 1866, shows land grants, including some that were previously in Jackson County
3804 dated 1884, shows land grants
5012 dated 1894, a particularly clear map; shows the location of the Atascosita Road
Lavaca River
283 dated 1841, shows plats along the east side of the Lavaca River; faded, difficult to read
Texas
2114 dated 1837, Tanner's Map of Texas, compiled by Stephen F. Austin; shows colonies; a very nice map
7826 dated 1849, De Cordova map of Texas and adjoining states
2134 dated 1882, Spaight's Official Map of Texas, shows railroads, statistics
Searching the GLO Land Grant Database
To find the GLO documents related to the land grant(s) for a specific person, go to http://www.glo.texas.gov/history/archives/land-grants/index.cfm. (You can navigate to this page from the GLO's main page, but it takes a little doing, much as navigating to the maps.) Once there, type in enough of the name of the original grantee to identify him/her, and click Search. The web page has instructions for the form of the name to be used. For example, to find the Ramon Musquiz land grants, I used "Musquiz, R%" and received a list of 7 documents, including 4 land grants.
The land granted to individuals for their personal use or to empresarios (developers such as Stephen F. Austin) by Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas or the State of Texas eventually was recorded and mapped by the Texas General Land Office (GLO). The GLO has a technologically-sophisticated mapping system that makes its extensive collection of historical maps available over the web, with full panning and zooming capabilities for many maps. Consequently, if a tract of land can be traced back to an original land grant in a certain county, the location of that land probably can be determined from a GLO map. That is the technique used to locate several of the tracts of land bought and sold by Thomas Haynes.
In many of the early land grants in Texas, a settler was given a total land area commonly called "a league and a labor," or 4,428 acres plus 177 acres. The labor of land was almost always along some watercourse, such as a river or creek, in order to provide water and bottom land for timber and firewood, as well as to grow crops. The league of land adjoined the labor did not necessarily include any bottom land, but was to serve as pasture land for raising cattle. Later land grants tended to be much smaller and filled in the areas between the larger, earlier grants. For a look at Texas GLO historic map 3709, which is an 1865 map of some actual land grants in Jackson County, follow this link on the way to a digitized version of the map. (Unfortunately, I cannot take you all the way to a specific GLO map with a single link; you will have to do part of the navigating.) The link above will take you to The Map Collection page. Once there, click on Search Historic Maps, which will take you to the Archive Maps page. On the lower part of the page in the Map/Document # field, enter the map number (3709) and click Search. Click on the magnifying glass to use the zoom-in feature to see more detail. When the map is re-displayed, click on the "+" to zoom in some more. Can you find the Ramon Musquiz Grant land? It's there; just look for the red smudge on the map (and the words "Ramon Musquiz," of course!) In fact, the red smudge is right on top of the area that became "the Haynes place!" Very convenient! Then move "east" across the Lavaca/Navidad River, and you will find a two-league tract granted to Stephen F. Austin himself. Pretty neat, wouldn't you agree? (Austin's colony extended only to the east side of the Lavaca. Martin de Leon's colony included the land on the west side of the river in this area.)
Accessing the GLO Main Page
The Texas General Land Office is a veritable treasure trove of Texas history documents, including a tremendous collection of superbly-digitized maps from the days of the Texas Revolution and thereafter. Charged with keeping track of land ownership in Texas since it was created by Sam Houston as the first state agency, the GLO has not only maps, but hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of documents, including many historical documents that are not even related to land ownership. The GLO has also developed facilities for preserving and re-publishing historic documents, and even sells excellent copies of historic maps at very reasonable prices. The GLO seems that have been recently revamping its on-line facilities, and its main web site address is now www.glo.texas.gov. It's a very large web site, so navigation can be kind of daunting at first, as the example above indicates. If you can't find your way to something of interest, check out the historic maps. Once you're a the GLO site, click the What We Do/Our Collections link, then Our Collections, then Map Collections, then Search Historic Maps.
Directly Accessing the GLO Map Collection
To go straight to the historic maps collection, go to www.glo.texas.gov/what-we-do/history-and-archives/the-collection/ArcMaps/index.html. Then click Search Historic Maps. On the lower half of the page, various search criteria may be entered. For example, to see a list of all the maps available for a given county, simply pull down the list of county names and choose one. Then click Search. This will produce a list of (perhaps several dozen or more) thumbnail sketches of the maps for that county, and you can browse through the list of maps, look at a map if it appears to be interesting, and even order a copy of it. If you know the GLO map number for a map of interest, enter the map number in the Map/Document# field and click Search. Click the magnifying glass for more detail.
Some of the maps I have used are listed below, with map number, date of publication, and very brief review:
Jackson County
3184 dated 1840, survey of grants between the Garcitas and the Lavaca; very faint
3707 dated 1840, shows land grants, including date of grant, but only east of the Lavaca River.
At that time, land west of the Lavaca River was in Victoria County.
3708 dated 1840, shows land grants, including lengths and bearings of property lines (clearer than map 3707)
This is apparently a companion to map 3707.
3709 dated 1865, shows land grants, including land west of the Lavaca River
3710 dated 1896, updated version of earlier maps; a good map
77324 dated 1920, GLO Official Map of Jackson County; a very readable map
Calhoun County
887 dated 1863, a nice map, shows railroads to Port Lavaca and Indianola
888 dated 1871, someone's working map, with editing, a nice map
670 dated 1879, a very good map
Victoria County
4115 dated 1858, shows land grants, all the way east to the Lavaca River
4116 dated 1873, shows land grants, but not all the way east to the Lavaca River except at the upper end
4117 dated 1895, shows land grants, all the way east to Texana, but apparently based on prior data
Lavaca County
3802 dated 1866, shows land grants, including some that were previously in Jackson County
3804 dated 1884, shows land grants
5012 dated 1894, a particularly clear map; shows the location of the Atascosita Road
Lavaca River
283 dated 1841, shows plats along the east side of the Lavaca River; faded, difficult to read
Texas
2114 dated 1837, Tanner's Map of Texas, compiled by Stephen F. Austin; shows colonies; a very nice map
7826 dated 1849, De Cordova map of Texas and adjoining states
2134 dated 1882, Spaight's Official Map of Texas, shows railroads, statistics
Searching the GLO Land Grant Database
To find the GLO documents related to the land grant(s) for a specific person, go to http://www.glo.texas.gov/history/archives/land-grants/index.cfm. (You can navigate to this page from the GLO's main page, but it takes a little doing, much as navigating to the maps.) Once there, type in enough of the name of the original grantee to identify him/her, and click Search. The web page has instructions for the form of the name to be used. For example, to find the Ramon Musquiz land grants, I used "Musquiz, R%" and received a list of 7 documents, including 4 land grants.