Texas Secretary of State:

An Inventory of Secretary of State Colonization Records at the Texas State Archives, 1820-1879, undated, bulk 1836-1845

Agency History

In a law of December 22, 1836, the Congress of the Republic of Texas invalidated all empresario grants under the Mexican Republic, declared all vacant lands under them the property of the Republic, and required empresarios and public officers to deliver the titles for such property to the Commissioner of the General Land Office. Following this repudiation, colonization in the Republic of Texas was not officially regulated until 1841, when a law of January 4 authorized the President to make contracts with W. S. Peters and others "for the purpose of colonizing and settling a portion of the vacant and unappropriated lands of the Republic." A subsequent act approved February 4, 1842, extended the provisions of the law to other colonization companies. The contracts, which were required to specify the number of families to be introduced within three years, were to be drawn up and filed by the Secretary of State. Contractors were to commence settlement within one year and to have one-third the number of families contracted for in the Republic by the end of the same period, under penalty of forfeiture of the contract. It was the duty of the Secretary of State to publish and declare such forfeitures.

The Secretary of State is a constitutional officer of the executive branch of state government, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate for a term concurrent with the governor's (a two-year term at first, a four-year term since 1974). The office was first created by the Constitution of the Republic of Texas in 1836 (Article VI, Section 10), and has been continued by each succeeding Constitution.

An act of February 11, 1854 created a Board of Commissioners composed of the Secretary of State, the Comptroller, and the Attorney General, "to superintend the arranging and filing of the archives of the late Republic of Texas and of the State Legislature, and also the recording of the Journals of the said Congress and State Legislature ... to be deposited in the General Land-office of the State." An act of December 14, 1863 made the Secretary of State "the custodian of the records of the Senate and House of Representatives." And an act of March 25, 1887 provided that "the entire archives of the late Republic of Texas, ... together with the records, books, and journals of said Congress" would be "deposited in the Office of the Secretary of State," and "declared to be Archives of said office."

Scope and Contents of the Records

Colonization records were created to document the efforts of the Republic of Texas to encourage the immigration of new citizens by the signing of contracts with agents, similar to the Mexican government’s empresario grants, and the enforcement of the agreements contained within those contracts. Types of records include lists of immigrants, contracts, correspondence, reports, resolutions, petitions, and proclamations, filed with the Department of State or maintained by the Texas Secretary of State. Dates covered are 1820-1879, undated, the bulk covering the Republic period, 1836-1845.

This series consists of colony contracts filed in the Department of State, as well as correspondence of the Department relating to the colonies. Also included is correspondence of the President and members of Congress relating to colonies and a small amount of material related to colonization in the Republic of Mexico. In addition, documents received in the office of the Secretary of State after annexation relating to the colonies is included. Lists of immigrants brought to Texas as colonists (usually called "ships’ lists") were filed in the Department of State in accordance with the requirement that evidence be made of meeting the numbers of colonists specified in the contract and are included with this series. Specific colonies to which the records relate are those granted to Stephen F. Austin, John C. Beales, Henri Castro, Juan Dominguez y Valdez, Henry F. Fisher and Burchard Miller, Arthur Ikin, William Kennedy and William Pringle, John McMullen and James McGloin, Charles F. Mercer, Alexander Bourgeois d'Orvanne, W. S. Peters, V. Pirson, the Rio Grande and Texas Land Company, Sterling C. Robertson, and John L. Woodbury. This series also includes some non-governmental collections: Papers of the Society for the Protection of German Emigrants, 1844-1846; Papers of Henri Castro, 1846, 1850; Letters of John E. Cravens and W. G. W. Jowers, 1849, 1852; and the Robert Swartwout Papers, 1820-1848.

Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

Materials do not circulate, but may be used in the State Archives search room. Materials will be retrieved from and returned to storage areas by staff members.

Restrictions on Use

Most records created by Texas state agencies are not copyrighted and may be freely used in any way. State records also include materials received by, not created by, state agencies. Copyright remains with the creator. The researcher is responsible for complying with U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.).

Technical Requirements

None.

Related Material

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

(Identify the item), Texas Secretary of State colonization records. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

Accession Information

Accession number: 1904/002

These records were transferred to the Texas Department of Insurance, Statistics, and History (a predecessor of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission) by the Texas Secretary of State on July 31, 1905.

Processing Information

Processed by State Archives staff, dates unknown

Finding aid encoded by Tony Black in EAD Version 2002 as part of the TARO project, August 2010

Authority name and other changes by Tony Black, February 2011.

Appraisal Information

Texas State Archives staff completed an appraisal of the Texas Secretary of State holdings already in the custody of the Texas State Archives in December 1998. Fifty-seven series of these holdings were determined to be archival, including Colonization records. The complete appraisal report (in two parts: Republic of Texas records, and non-Republic records) is available for consultation online at http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/arc/appraisal/sosrepublic.html and http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/arc/appraisal/sosstate.html, and also in the search room of the Texas State Archives.

Other Finding Aids

Detailed Description of the Records