SONS OF DEWITT COLONY TEXAS
© 1997-2006, Wallace L. McKeehan, All Rights Reserved
The Irish Colonies-Index | Coahuila y Tejas-Index

Power & Hewetson Colony Municipality: Refugio

Headright Land Grants
From The Headrights in Hobart Huson's "Refugio."  

While James Bray was laying off the town tract of Refugio, another surveyor, Samuel Addison White, was instructed verbally by Vidaurri to run the upper boundary of the power and Hewetson colony, by running ten leagues up the Guadalupe river and the same distance up the Nueces river, from the mouth of each river, and then run a straight line between the upper points on the rivers, so ascertained. In a law-suit twenty years later, White, who was then a prominent lawyer, testified that he executed the Commissioner's instructions, by running ten leagues up each river, from the mouth of each, beginning on the line of the Guadalupe of its lower or western mouth, not then having satisfactory information of its upper mouth, then running a random line to ascertain the bearing of the upper points so ascertained on the rivers, and then running a direct line between those points. The surveys aforesaid were actually and carefully made. The line up the Guadalupe was reduced to a course very near N. 45' W., and the cross-line or upper boundary was, from the Guadalupe to the Nueces, about S. 48' 30' W.  He run the colonial boundary, as aforesaid, in 1834. When witness, as the Colonial Surveyor, at one time attempted to survey east of the Guadalupe river he was prevented by Silvestre de Leon, a son of Martin de Leon. [Hamilton v. Menifee, 1854, 11 Tex 718]

In an earlier law suit involving the true location of the Power and Hewetson colony, White testified that, in running the upper line, he commenced above the Blanco, on the Nueces, and ran to the upper corner of the town tract of Victoria, on the west side of the Guadalupe, at which time he was stopped by de Leon's son. That Power claimed the right to colonize east of the Guadalupe. In the same suit Fernando de Leon, another son of Don Martin, testified as to the settlement of dispute between de Leon and Power. He stated that the Political Chief at Bexar came down in person and settled the line, giving de Leon the territory between the Lavaca and all the titles east of the Guadalupe and west of the Lavaca, and Vidaurri issued all the titles west of the Coleto and to the Nueces. [Bissell v. Haynes, 1853, 9 Tex 556]

The upper boundary of the Power and Hewetson colony extended well into the present county of Goliad, and it was the purpose of the litigation mentioned to locate said line closer to the coast by contending that the ten leagues should have commenced at the Gulf of Mexico. The Supreme Court sustained the line as run by White, and, afterwards, with some variations, by Willard Richardson, deputy district surveyor, of Refugio County, in 1838-1841. Richardson, having more time, made a more scientific analysis than did the colonial surveyor. He ran the two basic rivers the required ten leagues from their mouths; but, instead of running a straight cross-line from the upper ends of the rivers, he ran a third line from the shore of Copano bay, at a point about midway between the two base rivers, and extended that line ten leagues inland and drew lines from upper points on the two rivers to the apex of the center line.

Judge Hemphill, speaking for the Supreme Court, held that the survey was properly begun on the mainland at the mouths of the rivers, and not from the gulf shores of St. Joseph's Island, as contended for by some of the parties, and that the Mexican government contemplated some kind of regular line for the interior boundary, and "not a paralleling of the coast lines in the midst of an aboriginal prairie."  He, however, held the theory adopted by Richardson to have been the correct one . [Hamilton v. Menifee, 1854, 11 Tex. 718]

Having thus determined the boundaries of the colony and the extent of his jurisdiction, Vidaurri then proceeded to have the headrights surveyed for the colonists. Under the colonization laws

One labor [177 acres] shall be granted to each family included in the contract, whose only occupation is the cultivation of the soil; and should the same also raise stock, grazing land shall be added to complete a sitio [4428 acres], and should the raising of stock be the exclusive occupation, the family shall receive a superficies of twenty-four million square varas (being a sitio lacking one labor). Unmarried men shall receive the same quantity on marrying, and foreigners who marry natives of the country shall receive onefourth more; those who are entirely single, or do not compose a part of any family, contenting themselves rather with the fourth part of  the quantity aforesaid, which shall be computed to them on the assignment of their land. Families and single men who, having emigrated separately and at their own expense, shall wish to annex themselves to any of the new settlements, can do so at all times, and the same quantity of land shall be respectively assigned to them, as specified in the two foregoing articles; but should they do so within the first six years from the establishment of the settlement, one labor more shall be granted to families; and single men, instead of one-fourth, as specified in article 15, shall receive one-third. [Note: A sitio and league are synonymous. Each is a square of 5000 varas, or 4428 act or a vara is the Mexican base for land measurement and is still used in Texas. A Mexican or Texas vara is 33 1/3 English inches in length.]

It may be here observed that the colonization laws were liberally interpreted. Two or more single men could combine together and be considered as a family and receive a joint grant as such. Also a single man who kept servants (as were the case of  John Dunn and Thomas O'Connor) was considered the head of a family and given rights as such .  In colonial days, which were before the era of artesian wells, permanent water supply for domestic use and livestock was a problem. The only dependable sources were the running streams, which were not overly numerous in a semi-arid country. Article 29, of the Colonization Law of 1832, which was a statement of a long established custom, therefore, provided:

The survey of vacant lands that shall be made upon the borders of any river, running riverlet or creek, or lake, shall not exceed one fourth of the depth of the land granted, should the land permit.

It was also provided that no vacancies be left between the tracts.   It will be noted that all headrights in the Power and Hewetson colony were located on some water course. The method used in surveying these headrights was, after computing the quantity to be titled, to arrive at the length of the frontage on the designated water course at approximately one-quarter of the length of the upper and lower lines, and to lay the upper and lower lines of the survey that distance apart without meandering the water-courses, which was impracticable and would have in many instances resulted in absurd consequences. As land was plentiful and of no monetary value and settlers were scarce, great liberality was allowed in making surveys and reasonable amounts of excess in acreage were considered to be usual and customary.  The unit of measurement was the Mexican vara. [State of Texas v. Indio Cattle Co., 154 SW (2nd) 308; The colonial method of surveying headrights and the length of the Mexican vara was extensively briefed in the celebrated case of Hornburg, et al. v. O'Connor 185 SW (2nd) 993, the Spanish method of surveying a new town was briefed in the case of Mitchell v. Town of Refugio]

The various colonization laws provided for sales to Mexicans of not exceeding eleven leagues of land "united in the same hands," and the governor also had the right under these and other laws to make headright grants to native Mexicans. The colonization contract of Power and Hewetson further provided,

The said Empresarios are obligated to receive into their colony, all Mexican families, who may present themselves as settlers, provided they possess the necessary qualifications, and, therefore, the inhabitants of Goliad, and others, who have applied to the Government for lands, at that point, can present themselves to the Empresarios, aforesaid, who shall receive them as settlers, to be included in the number of families they have contracted for.

After Commissioner Vidaurri arrived in the colony, it was found that a number of Americans, British, and Germans had come and were seeking admittance as colonists. The original contract limited the colonists to Irish and native Mexicans. The nationals mentioned being desirable as colonists, the empresarios on August 2, 1834, petitioned the executive for permission to admit them as colonists, in lieu of the same number of Irish families, it being stated that the individuals involved had originally intended to settle in other colonies, but preferred to settle in the Irish colony. [Power and Hewetson to Executive. 2 Aug 1834].  On August 27, 1834, Governor granted the petition, stating that

the Government admits the families they propose, provided they possess all the qualifications required by law, that they do not belong to any nation at war with the Mexican Republic, and provided also, that they entered the country previous to the 12th of June of the present year, upon which day the contract was made with the Government, of the 12th of June 1828, expired by its own limitation. [Vidaurri to Power and Hewetson, 27 Aug 1834]

The colonists had been waiting for several months for their titles. Some had been waiting for years. In fact, several had grown discouraged and left the colony, not to return. In order to expedite matters, the Commissioner employed four surveyors for the colony, James Bray, Samuel Addison White, Victor Loupe, and Isaac Robinson.   George W. Cash of Goliad also made some surveys in the upper part of the colony. Bray surveyed the town tract and lands in that vicinity, while White ran the colony lines and surveyed the headrights on the San Antonio and Coleto. Loupe and Robinson surveyed on the bays and islands. [Hornburg v. O'Connor; Town of Refugio v. Mitchell]

The Commissioner between September 1, 1834, and January 1, 1835, issued titles to a total of well over 300 colonists and old Mexican settlers, which grants are located within the present counties of Refugio, San Patricio, Bee, Goliad, and Victoria. In addition to these grants, he issued titles to a large number of leagues purchased direct from the government, and to some of the premium lands to which the empresarios were entitled as compensation.  Under their contract of June 12, 1828, Power and Hewetson were obligated to "introduce into the Territory and settle upon the land", two hundred families, within six years from date of contract." There is little doubt that the empresarios actually obtained and had en route sufficient families, with those of the old Mexican settlers (which were to be counted as colonists) to have satisfied their contract. However, with the loss in the cholera epidemic of from one third to one-half of the Irish families, it would be hard to determine whether or not 200 families were introduced, when it is considered the construction given by the Mexican Government to the term "family," as herein before explained.  Henderson states of this colony, that "Even though nearly two hundred titles were issued [She evidently did not consider the practice of extending titles to several different individuals in a single document], two hundred families were not introduced, because a large number of the titles were to single men. [Here, too, she overlooks that a single man in some instances was considered to be a family] some were for augmentations of previous grants, and in some cases in all probability the settlers did not occupy the land as the law required," and concludes, "The facts do not warrant the claim that Power and Hewetson fulfilled their contract."

It is submitted that a fair analysis of the facts show that the empresarios substantially fulfilled their contract. Present day Refugio County is living testimony to a durable achievement, accomplished under most adverse and discouraging conditions. As has been stated, the Congress of Coahuila and Texas, on March 22, 1832 conceded to Power a three-year additional term  within which to effect the colonization settlement." But in April, 1833, the Congress rescinded the extension on the ground that it had been made contrary to Article 9, of the General Colonization Law of August 18, 1824.  However, the attitude of the government does not appear to have been extremely unjust, as in February, 1834, the Congress enacted a decree whereby

"eight sitios of land are hereby granted to each of the empresarios, Santiago Power and Santiago Hewetson, of the vacant lands of the state, as an indemnification for the expense they have incurred in virtue of the contract which they entered into in 1828; provided, that at the expiration of the term they shall not have been able to fulfill their engagement";

and provided further that the grants be not located on lands disputed by the town of Goliad, without its consent.  Considering the fact that the Colonization Law of March 24, 1825, gave "the contractor or contractors" only five sitios of premium lands for each 100 families introduced by them the provision of 1834 seems to have been most generous. The empresarios, it would seem, never received grants to the full quantity of premium lands to which they were entitled. Several of the leagues were surveyed and titles issued thereto as one of the last official acts of Commissioner Vidaurri. However, some of the locations selected by the empresarios were in the vicinity of Goliad; and, the ayuntamiento there protesting, Vidaurri declined to issue the grants. The empresarios were unable to make other locations before Vidaurri left for Mexico. During the latter days of December, 1834, Vidaurri received word of the death of some of his family. He left the colony never to return in an official capacity. No other commissioner was ever appointed in his stead. Political turmoil and revolution intervening, the empresarios were prevented from getting relief from the Mexican government. On January 22, 1872, the heirs of James Power brought a suit against Governor Edmund J. Davis for the purpose of obtaining from the State of Texas the balance of the premium lands not received from the Mexican government. The courts denied their prayers.

On November 13, 1835, the General Consultation adopted a plan for a provisional government for Texas, which included as its Article XIV the following provision:

"That all land commissioners, empresarios, surveyors, or per sons in anywise concerned in the location of lands, be ordered forthwith to cease their operation during the agitated and unsettled state of the country, and continue to desist from further locations until the land office can be properly systematized by the proper authority, which may hereafter be established," etc. 

A similar provision was contained in the Constitution of the Republic of Texas.  Thus officially, as well as factually, ended the colonial empresario system, and the Power and Hewetson colony.

The following is the list of settlers that received title to grants in the Colony as compiled by Hobart Huson in Refugio from Land Office Records.  The date of issue of title, amount and location of grants where cited comes from Abstract of Original Titles in the General Land Office issued by Commissioner José Jesus Vidaurri reprinted in Texas Irish Empresarios by William H. Oberste. 

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SONS OF DEWITT COLONY TEXAS
© 1997-2006, Wallace L. McKeehan, All Rights Reserved