Sign In

Coahuila y Tejas and Texas Republic Land Documents

Francis J. Anthony, Veteran of the Texas Revolution

Buys La Nana Creek Land, Near Nacogdoches

Tejanos, Anglos, a German Jew, and a Mulatto

A remarkable grouping of early Texas manuscript papers, documenting the chain of ownership of land along La Nana Creek, just south of Nacogdoches, from approximately 1810-1836. The papers comprise a mix of Spanish and English language documents, fascinating for connecting individuals of diverse backgrounds though respective ownership of land in the Texas borderlands: Jose Morillo (described as a mulatto man in early Nacogdoches census records), Tejanos José and Maria Macaria Procela, and Texas pioneers Francis J. Anthony (veteran of the Siege of Bexar), John Everhardt Ruff (from Germany), Samuel Norris (as Alcalde of Nacogdoches), and Adolphus Sterne (of Cologne, Germany). Norris was removed from office during the Fredonian Rebellion and lived the remainder of his life in Louisiana, while Adolphus Sterne, a prominent Nacogdoches public official of Jewish heritage, remained in Texas for many years as the patriarch of the Sterne family.

Partial transcriptions of the Spanish and English texts here follow:

• A. Sterne & John Ruff Land Title on the Bayou Lanana one mile below Nacogdoches [docket title]. July 16, 1810. [12] pages of laid paper.

Jose Morillo vecino de este Pueblo de... Nacogdoches ante V.S.... digo que ha el tiempo de diez y nueve años que me haio poseiendo un [?] de tierra que se haia en los inmediaciones de este dicho Pueblo, mismo que le compré al vesino ya difunto Manuel de Mora y no haviendo dado este carta de venta ni tener yo otro algun documento con que acreditarlo; a V.S. rendidamente pido y suplico... me autorise un documento juridico...para en todo tiempo acreditar la propiedad de dicha tierra en virtud de haverla poseydo y cultivado en buena fee hasta el dia presente.... Notarized and signed by Jose Maria Guadians July 16, 1810. 

• Documentos pertenientes a la tierra de Morillos y vendida á Adolfo Sterne y Juan Ruff. Año de 1829.
  • Samuel Norris, Alcalde Nacional del Puesto de Nacogdoches y Su Jurisdicion. Norris certifies a land sale between Maria Juana Ballanova and Jose Antonio Sepulveda. June 25, 1826. 1 page of bifolium. Signed by Norris.
  • Jose Antonio Sepulveda and Juan Seguin. 1823
  • Land sale "en la orilla del Arroyo de la Nana" to Juan or Jose Dost. Signed by Radford Berry as witness. Bifolium of sealed paper for 1826-27. Nacogdoches, Estado de la Provincia de Texas. June 13, 1827.
  • Land sale document dated 1829, signed by Adolphus Sterne and others as witnesses. Estado de Coahuila y Texas. Bifolium. [4] pages.
  • Land sale document dated Estado de Coahuila y Tejas. One sheet is sealed paper of 1834-35 with printed circular seal of the State of Coahuila y Tejas. Nacogdoches, Feb. 8. 1835. Signed by Francisco Guerrero, and witnesses.
• Land sale document in English. Republic of Texas, Town of Nacogdoches. Bifolium. Docketed on verso of final leaf: "Sep. 21, 1836, Sale of Land, Jose Procela & Maria Macaria, his wife, to [Francis] Anthony. Recorded. Sep. 21, 1836. Copy." Signed by John M. Dor, primary judge, and others.
  • "Jose Procela and Maria Macaria... sell... unto Francis J. Anthony... a certain tract of land situate and being about two miles south east from the Town aforesaid on the Creek called La Nana, granted by the State of Coahuila and Texas unto Jose Morillo...."

Nicholas Adolphus Sterne

Nicholas Adolphus Sterne (1801-1852) - here as Adolfo Sterne, Primer Regidor and substitute Alcalde of Nacogdoches. Sterne, born in Cologne to an Orthodox Jewish father and a Lutheran mother, was a significant Texas pioneer, financier of the Texas Revolution, and a friend of Sam Houston. He arrived in Nacogdoches in 1824 after a time in New Orleans, personally financed two companies of soldiers for the Texas Revolution, known as the New Orleans Grays, and eventually represented Nacogdoches in the Texas House of Representatives. He built a house on the eastern edge of Nacogdoches, near the confluence of the La Nana Bayou and Bonita Creek, where he often entertained Sam Houston and other prominent Texas residents. In 1839 Sterne commanded a company of militia in the Battle of the Neches, helping to expel the Cherokees from East Texas. By 1840 it is estimated from the census of that year that he owned about 16,000 acres of land, yet he often complained in his diary that he did not have enough "monay." He served as an interpreter as he knew many languages, including French, Spanish, German, Yiddish, Portuguese, and Latin. 

The online Handbook of Texas has an extensive illustrated biography of Sterne, detailing his exploits and role in early Texas history.

The Fiscal Stamp of Coahuila and Texas

The present document includes an example of papel sellado with the handsome ink stamped seal of the Treasury of the State of Coahuila y Tejas - a very early and rare example of an official seal from Texas. The papel sellado was almost certainly stamped or printed locally, perhaps in the state capital of Monclova. Unlike the regular state seal for Coahuila y Tejas, which was essentially a slightly modified version of the Mexican national seal, the fiscal seal of Coahuila y Tejas is a unique design: the Mexican eagle's breast is surmounted with a large Eye of Providence within a pyramidal sunburst or halo. Two figures on either side of the eagle are almost definitely Native Americans, one with a bow and another with a quiver of arrows. 

A fascinating land sale document signed by several significant figures in early Texas history.

Rarity

Original early documents from the Texas borderlands town of Nacogdoches during the Mexican and Texas Republic eras are rare in the market.