To Understand, We Go to the Beginning

So how do we come to understand historical outcomes? How can we come to understand the gaps that exist between a series of events? The natural thing to do is to look at the byproduct of a chain of events that took place over 150 years ago and to draw assumptions. Yet assumptions can never be trusted. Assumptions can be correct, or they can lead us astray, they can lead us into a wilderness of non-existent facts and narratives that can't be tested.

I do think the natural byproduct we have come accustomed to is the end result. This end result as we all know by now is the plight of Antonio de la Garza and his family. Yet, the more important question to ask is how did it all begin? How did history lead us to this point? I believe that in order to understand this chain of events and to see it with a clear lens is to take a step back and start at the beginning.

I have a good idea now as to whether Becerra's claim to title is valid or not. I plan on showing that it was. But I will say that my initial instincts were wrong. Don Manuel Becerra did receive his title by the Mexican Government. Yes, he did, and the de la Garza's were the last of the line to have held it. What I gave you was the end. But to see it correctly, we need to start at the beginning. The beginning starts with the story of Manuel Becerra...

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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 imm...

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...

Old Maps and Deception

Well, it may come as no surprise to some, but I needed to validate this map search for myself and perhaps others in the group. Remarkably, what was said by Rubio speaks out in the maps. I was fortunate to access the Texas General Land Office database in Austin . More specifically, I was able to locate all the maps that were relevant to the story timeline. These Refugio Co maps date from 1850 - 1875. They are relevant only because they date the span of time the de la Garza's were on the land. Looking at them I was disappointed to see that all 5 original maps did not contain a Becerra or de la Garza name. Now, this is where it gets interesting. It's simple, 1. Becerra and de la Garza families lived in a parallel universe and the rest of Refugio lived in another, as in the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing, 2. They knew who was on the land but didn't care to investigate. Instead allowing Anglo colonizers to take it outright and not bother as to w...

Stolen Heritage Revisited

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