Tl1c Beginning of Formal Coloni:::ation
means for its cultivation. Moreover, land grants must be according to the Spanish system of land measures. Before admitting the petitioners. however, he was to conduct another investigation and require each to adduce proof of his character and loyalty. Upon presentation of satis- factory evidence, they were to be permitted to settle in the interior of the province, or in one of the villas already authorized. 93 Informed of Salcedo's instructions, the applicants resented what they considered his groundless suspicions as a reflection on their integrity and gave up their plan to emigrate. Daniel Boone, a nephew of Kentucky's famous Boone, made application on June 11 for permission to settle in Orcoquisac. He declared that he was a native of North Carolina, and that from Opelousas, where he had been living for the last twelve years, he had moved to Atascosito with his family because of dissatisfaction with American rule. Boone now sought the grant of a building lot and lands on which to continue life as a farmer. 9 ' Although he had entered the province without waiting for permission, his petition was granted to the extent that he was per- mitted to establish his residence in the interior of Texas. He appears to have moved to San Antonio, where he worked for several years, not as a farmer, but as the garrison's gunsmith. 95 According to tradition, Boone was killed by Indians in 1817. 96 The summer of r8o6 brought numerous applications to settle in different parts of Texas. Daniel Colman Jones, an Irish native of Halifax, his family, together with his friends, John Ronells and Benjamin Thomas, desired to take advantage of the law permitting removal from Louisiana to Texas. They asserted that they were Catholics, and had lived in Louisiana for some years before it was sold to the United States. John Andreton (Anderson?), another Irishman, originally of Bruns- wick, Virginia, petitioned to immigrate with his family, his sons-in- law, and a friend, David King-all Catholics and residents of the neigh- boring province during the past eight years. Guillermo Gardner, an Irish Catholic. resident of Opelousas for more than seven years, likewise wished to bring his family, stock, and farm implements to found a new home in Spanish Texas. Three other Opelousas citizens expressed their desire
9lSalcedo to Cordero, June 16, 1806. Be:rar Arcl1h1es. 94Petition of Daniel Doone, June 11, 1806. Bexar Arclifres. 9SBi!l of March 4, 1809; N. Salcedo to l\l. de Salcedo, April 8, 1809. 96Hatcher, Th,: Ope11i11g of Texas to Settlem,ml, 109.
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