Foreign Coltmizati<m of Te:&a.s, 1820-1835
203
Chief replied that he had no objection to a temporary station on the Lavaca, but that it was not in his power or that of the State to authorize its permanent occupation. By August of 1826 about forty men, women, and· children had located in the settlement; lands had been distributed; cabins, erected; and an alcalde, appointed. Complications arising from ctmfticting claims. The situation faced by DeWitt became complicated by the rival claims of the only Mexican empresario to found a colony, Martin de Leon. A serious dispute now arose between Mexican and Anglo-American settlers in the area. The provincial delegation of San Fernando de Bejar had granted permission to de Le6n on April 13, 1824-before the State colonization law had been passed-to settle forty-one Mexican families "on vacant lands in the State." Although no boundaries had been designated, his colonists assumed that they were to occupy the land between the Lavaca and the Guadalupe, from the La Bahia-Nacogdoches Road to the ten-league coast border reserve. This included a good portion of DeWitt's grant. Before DeWitt set foot on his grant, Martin de Le6n had founded Guadalupe Victoria (present Victoria), a flourishing little town, almost in the center of DeWitt's grant. Twelve Mexican and sixteen Anglo- American families had, in fact, already settled, planted their crops, and organized a town before DeWitt arrived. Under the terms of his contract, DeWitt was bound to respect the rights of persons legally in possession. Desirous of avoiding trouble, he wrote the Governor pro- posing to cede to de Leon most of the disputed territory in exchange for an extension to his grant above the San Marcos and the Guadalupe sufficiently large to enable him to settle his 400 families. But de Le6n, likewise, addressed himself to the Governor at the same time to request formal recognition of his right to the lands occupied and the designation of boundaries for his town, basing his claim on the prior occupation of the land and the preference given by the law to Mexican colonists. The Governor acceded to de Leon's demands on October 6, 1825.' 1 The dispute could not help affecting relations between the Mexican and Anglo-American settlers in the conflicting grants. The dissolution of DeWitt's settlement near the mouth of the Lavaca, however, was to be brought about by charges of contraband trade rather than by the land controversy. The new conflict arose after the arrival at the mouth of the Lavaca of the schooner Escambia in October of 1826. Aboard came ' 7 Record of Translations of Empresario Contracts (Ms.), 55-66; Kerr to political chief, August 2, 1825; Kerr to political chief, December 12, 1825, in Appendix to Empresario Contracts (Ms.), Vol. 2, pp. 177-180, Stat• Land Offic,.
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