Skip to main content

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 well as the conveyance and selling of parcels of land by the Becerra family to the de la Garzas throughout the 1850s (further proof). Emphasis will be placed on the transactional proof and discrimination enacted upon Mexican Tejanos by gringos in the surrounding counties. No stone left unturned...
Completion estimate: March 31st, 2024.
Phase IlI: 1861 - 1875, everything de la Garza, including the lost years 1861 to 1870. A breakdown of how unscrupulous people like might have rigged the maps in order to go to the land commissioner and obtain supposed vacant scripts of land. A careful examination and historical perspective concerning the inherent racism built into an era of land grabbing and intimidation. An analysis and breakdown regarding the retaliation of gringo policy and violent tactics to remove all traces of Mexican landowners in Refugio and surrounding areas. This will hopefully uncover the lost years between 1861 and 1870. It will include the intimidation and violent tactics enacted by cattle rustlers and land grabbers that were backed up by muscle, in essence, the O'Connor's. It will include evidence of racist tactics enacted by the General Land Office and other institutional organizations in Texas. No stone left unturned...
Completion estimate: June 30th, 2024.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Transfer to Francisco de la Garza

  This is the conveyance of land from Maria Josefa and Jose Maria to Francisco de la Garza. The bottom picture is the start, and it finishes at the top of the next picture, the one on top. If this isn't legitimate ownership of title, then I don't know what is...

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...