253
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1838
Ans. 4th. The actions of all agents of the law, contrary to law, are void. The higher officers of the law are to regard their conduct as though it had not been,-void ab initio. The President has no power of removal in land cases. Sam Houston [Rubric] [Addressed]: To John P. Borden, Esq., Land Commissioner General Texas [Endorsed]: From His Exe. Sam Houston, June file, 1838. 1 Miscellaneous Files, General Land Office of Texas. 2 John Pettit Borden (December 30, 1812-November 12, 1891), first com- missioner of the General Land Office of Texas, son of Gail Borden, Senior, was born in New York. He came to Texas in 1829, and like other members of his family served his adopted state in many positions. He received an unmarried man's headright of land in Austin's second colony, a tract of land located on the Colorado River now in Wharton County. He served in the Texas army throughout the Texas revolution; first, in Captain George Collinsworth's company, and was at the taking of Goliad, October 7, 1835; he participated in the siege and capture of San Antonio, December 5-10, 1835, and later, was in Captain Moseley Baker's company at the battle of San Jacinto. In the late months of 1836, he and his brother, Gail Borden, Jr., surveyed and laid out the town of Houston for A. C. and John K. Allen. In 1838 Houston appointed him the first commissioner of the General·Land Office of Texas, and Lamar reappointed him to that position in 1840. He resigned the office in 1841. In 1842 he was a member of the Somervell expedition, and in 1846 was elected judge of Fort Bend County. At a later period he made his home at the little village of Bordenville, Colorado County, and there he died. He and his wife, Mary S. Borden, are buried in the cemetery at Weimar, Texas. See Thrall, A Pictorial History of Texas, 502. Dixon and Kemp, He,·oes of San Jacinto, 184. Johnson-Barker (1916 edition), V, 2039.
To JOHN W. MOODY 1
City of Houston, 15th June, 1838.
Major J. W. Moody Sir, The President presents his compliments and says that no account is to be audited without the person who presents the account or the attorney of any person transacting business, gives a receipt to the Paymaster on the payroll. Sam Houston [ Rubric] [Addressed]: Major J. W. Moody 1st Auditor Texas
1 Lettera and Claims, First A1<dito1·s, Texns Stnte Library. 2 See Houston to the Texns Sennte, December 20, 1836.
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