Item #63135 IN THE NAME OF THE STATE OF TEXAS. / TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, KNOW YE / I, P.H. BELL, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE AFORESAID BY VIRTUE OF THE POWER VESTED IN ME BY LAW AND IN / ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF SAID STATE IN SUCH CASE MADE AND PROVIDED DO BY THESE PRESENTS GRANT TO THE HEIRS OF BENJAMIN Mc / KENNEY DECEASED... ONE LEAGUE / OF LAND... IN BURNET COUNTY. Land Grant, Bell, eter, ansborough.
IN THE NAME OF THE STATE OF TEXAS. / TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, KNOW YE / I, P.H. BELL, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE AFORESAID BY VIRTUE OF THE POWER VESTED IN ME BY LAW AND IN / ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF SAID STATE IN SUCH CASE MADE AND PROVIDED DO BY THESE PRESENTS GRANT TO THE HEIRS OF BENJAMIN Mc / KENNEY DECEASED... ONE LEAGUE / OF LAND... IN BURNET COUNTY....

IN THE NAME OF THE STATE OF TEXAS. / TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, KNOW YE / I, P.H. BELL, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE AFORESAID BY VIRTUE OF THE POWER VESTED IN ME BY LAW AND IN / ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF SAID STATE IN SUCH CASE MADE AND PROVIDED DO BY THESE PRESENTS GRANT TO THE HEIRS OF BENJAMIN Mc / KENNEY DECEASED... ONE LEAGUE / OF LAND... IN BURNET COUNTY....

6th September 1852. Land grant, 32 x 38 cm., a partly printed document on vellum, completed in manuscript in a clerical hand, and signed by Governor P.H. Bell, counter-signed by S[tephen] Crosby, Commissioner of the General Land Office. The text on the recto is enclosed in a decorative border, with small nautical vignettes at the head and foot, and both sides of the document. The property granted to McKinney's heirs was located in Burnet County, Milam District, "about 20 miles above George Town on the South Fork of the San Gabriel by virtue of Certificate No. 199 issued by the Board of Land Commissioners of Matagorda the 22nd day of January 1838." This document, printed by James Harris, Bank Note Engraver, 58 Nassau St., NY, was originally printed for the decade of the 1840s, and has been partly amended in manuscript to adjust it to the 1852 date of this land patent. Docketted and signed by the County Clerk on verso, who affirms that the land patent has been duly recorded in the county record books. Small blue paper seal in lower left on verso. Old fold lines, manuscript ink very faded. Item #63135

Governor Peter Hansborough Bell, born in Virginia, went west to Texas to join Henry Karnes' company in the battle of San Jacinto, fighting for Texas independence in 1836. He joined the Texas Rangers in 1840, served in the Mexican War, and was elected Governor of the State in 1849, serving until 1853. He went on to serve in the Congress from Texas before the Civil War, and to serve in the Confederate Army as a colonel. [see his brief biography in the "Handbook of Texas," (Austin: 1952), v. 1, p.141].
Benjamin McKinney was originally from Kentucky. As a resident of the Republic of Texas when the Constitution of 1836 was put into effect, he was entitled to "first class headrights" of one league of land, as head of the family. According to a history, "Daughters of the Republic of Texas Patriot Ancestor Album," (Turner Pub. Co.: 2001), v. 2, p.87], McKinney was killed in battle during the Texas Revolution on Feb. 15, 1837. His daughters Sarah and Susan inherited his land in Burnet County, and Sarah and her husband built a home there. [see also the section on Land Grants in the "Handbook of Texas," v.2, p.20].

Price: $375.00

See all items in Americana, Western Americana
See all items by , , ,