206
AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
t.o, and if he does so, I shall be totally relieved from the vexation of distributing land to the settlers, for the lnw imposes all that duty on the commissioner, but heretofore the comr imposed it all on me-he will be compelled to form some general rules on the subject and to follow them with very great rigor, or there will be much confusion. I wish to get a complete list of all those who have not yet recd land, in order to convince the commissioner of the necessity of his staying here untill the business is all finished, for if I clo not do this, he will only remain a short time and leave me as the other commis- ~ioners have [be]fore the business is half finished-I have [asked] the favor of Mr Ingram to get a list of all in that section, and I must ask the favor of you to aid him in doing so- Things are getting on better here, and there is some more harmony than there was- The people must be more particular in electing a man for Alcalde-If it will not injure you too much I think you ought to be the next Alcalde-many persons speak of you-in fact I do not think there would be any opposition at all- I have been spoken to by many, and I wish to get that idea out of their heads: for I am compelled to visit the United States next fall, and I shall spend the season there- It will not do for me to be .Alcalde- I have not the same patience that I once had- I have also other things to attend to of much more importance to the colony than settling little neighborhood disputes about cows and calves- There are some erronious impressions about the Ayuntamiento, amongst the settlers-those kind of impressions are very injurious and ought to be corrected-ifr Ingram can give you much informa- tion on [this 1] and I will promptly afford all the information in my power to any one who will [write] me_or take the trouble to inquire-- Our Academy subscription goes on very well the1;e is over 1300 dollars subscribed and I think we shall be able to get a brick build- ing. I am anxious to see the matter succeed for I think it will, be attended with much public good I will be down and try and spend some time in that quarter after the commissioner arrives- My respects to Mrs Bell S. F. AusTIN [Rubric] AUSTIN TO E. R. WIGH'l'l)[AN For the sake of accomadating the families brought out by Elias R. Weightmann 1 and in order that they may have a home in the set- tlements, I agree that they may have the quarter· 0£ a League out 0£ the upper half 0£ the League that was_granted to James "\V Jones which half League I bought of said Jones, and the quarter of a 1 Wightman's party was trom New York. He himself became one of Austin's otnclaJ surveyors.
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