Inside the Layer of the Dragon

Inside the layer of the dragon. Refugio County Courthouse

So I'm led into the archives, inside the courthouse. An employee simply told me how to figure things out and walked away. I'm standing in front of this book, literally the breath just left my body as I looked around and said what is this? You see that giant book there? In order to find a grant or any instrument you need to go through those books underneath that book and when you find say a transfer of grant title at the very end of the row, it tells you a specific book letter and a page number. At that point, you have to walk across to the other side from you. See all those volumes of books against the wall? There you have to pull out the specified book referenced to in the first book and go to that page number to find a grant, a deed, etc. I am not kidding. I know in my heart, that it didn't change one iota since Abel Rubio stood here (very spot) in 1975. Not one iota!

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The Timeline for this Project

Phase I: 1810 - 1834, everything Becerra, including his accomplishments, travels, correspondence leading up to his petitioning and granting of title in 1834. It will include the conflicts and communication via the Ayuntamiento of Goliad and will include colonization efforts by Powers and Hewetson as well as disputes with Martin de Leon. It will include evidence I have from the General Land Office, his actual title. It will include evidence that is central to this story and that is his disputes with colonization efforts by Powers and Hewetson. No stone left unturned... Completion estimate: December 31st, 2023. Phase II: 1835 - 1860, everything Becerra including transitioning to the de la Garza's, including his ongoing disputes with the colonization efforts by Powers and Hewitson. The war of 1836 and the emergence of the Republic of Texas and its effect on Mexican Tejano settlers. The lost years between 1836 and 1848. The filing of and the legitimization of his land as

Revisiting Old Wounds, Tying Up Loose Ends...

The quest to understand what happened to Antonio de la Garza's land was not one that was born out of curiosity, instead, it was born out of necessity. A necessity I felt was needed to help expunge the vicissitudes and injustices our people had to endure at the turn of the 20th century, an injustice that left its imprint on the soul of Becerra generations to come. My journey with this story started over 20 years ago. Abel Rubio's book, Stolen Heritage, had laid dormant in my father's living room for more than 10 years, and so one day I saw it sitting amongst other books and asked my father if I could take it home and read it. I had always been curious about the book and thought I'd give it a spin and read it from cover to cover in hopes of understanding what had happened. Over the course of a few weeks, I made time to read it, not really knowing what it would lead to or how it would end. Yet, in the end, I chose to close the book and put it back on the shelf for ano

Racial Injustice in Refugio, Texas

Becerra Land Grant As most of us know now, in 1832, the Mexican government bestowed a first-class land grant of two leagues (8,856 acres) to Manuel Becerra. The land grant was approved by the ayuntamiento (town council) of Goliad and by the then-Tejas-Mexican governor, Francisco Vidaurri. However, when James Power and James Hewetson's Colony was established in 1834, Becerra's land was not surveyed or included in the colony. This suggests that racial injustice occurred between the white colonists and the existing Mexican landowners as evidenced by Abel Rubio’s book, Stolen Heritage. Yet the following facts are the facts and help shed light on their importance in what was to become known as the great theft: Irish Colonists, Omission of Becerra One, the Power and Hewetson's Colony was a group of white Irish immigrants who came to Texas in 1833. The colony was founded under the provisions of the Colonization Law of 1825, which allowed empresarios to recruit immigrants to T

Stolen Heritage Revisited

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