Gathering Fallen Rocks Ch. 04

As they were walking out of the doctor's office, Gail said, "That is absolutely the fastest I have ever been in and out of a doctor's office in my whole life."

"Yeah, and I like him. He's been my doctor ever since I was born. I guess I like him because he's a little old fashioned. Some of these younger ones want to take over your whole life. He's a little more understanding about real people."

"Howard," he said, "Take your wife home, and get on with your lives."

"Did you tell him we were married?"

"No, I think that happened at the hospital. I was giving them information. They asked me my name and then your first name and I guess they just assumed we were married. I had to get a little creative with some answers they asked, and some I just said I didn't know. Then when he was telling me that he couldn't save ... well, he was being kind, I guess ... I didn't want to correct him, I was afraid they wouldn't let me see you."

"I was just wondering, because Santos came by today and called me Mrs. Pleas. I understand about that, but I can't take over your life like that."

Howard laughed, "You don't see anyone else standing in line, do you?"

"No ... I didn't mean it like ..."

"It's alright," Howard interrupted. "I was just teasing you." Then he tried to change the subject, "And Doctor Jackson's right. You do look a lot better than you did Sunday. Hey, we need to stop at the grocery store and get a few things. Can you do that much walking, if I push the basket?"

"Doctor Jackson seems to think so, as long as I take it easy for another week or so."

After they were back in her truck, Gail said, "Oh yes, I was going to tell you something." She turned slightly sideways in her seat, or at least as much as the seat belt would allow, "Aunt Jean said something about Santos trying to legally steal your land."

"Yeah, he's tried, but he won't be able to do it. He won't get Frank's land either."

Gail started asking Howard questions about his ranch. He answered easily then asked why she was so curious, so she began to explain about the job she had for the last five years and even more about Texas land laws. Even while they carried a few groceries into the house, Howard kept asking her questions.

"Howard, now you tell me why you are so interested, in all this?"

"I'm Basque, you know from the mountains between Spain and France. At least that's what my dad said. Mom's family came from the same region, a long time ago. Lots of them left the Basque region and went to Argentina, Mexico, and Cuba, but some of them came over here. There are a lot of Basque families in Boise, Idaho, but there's a lot of families here in Starr, Zapata, and Hidalgo counties, and even more in Mexico, like in a couple of states there, Nuevo Leon and Tamulipas. Names you think are Spanish surnames, like Sanchez, Ybarra, Aldape, and Mendiola are actually Basque names. Simón Bolívar was Basque. Many of their names show up on Spanish Land Grants as owners of farms and ranches. They expected to establish the same kind of ranches they had for herds of sheep as they did in the old Basque lands, but the land isn't the same."

Gail nodded, and said, "Yes, if you were looking for an old land grant, you would find those names in all the records in the Texas General Land Office because that's the repository of the original Spanish and Mexican land titles in Texas. There are boxes and boxes, roughly sorted by county. Those records are from somewhere around 1720 to the year of the Alamo, 1836, but the bulk of it is from about a dozen years before the Alamo, you know when Stephen F. Austin was doing most of his work bringing settlers, sometime between 1824 and 1836. At least that's what I was taught. I don't do much about material that old, and it's in Spanish. I can't read Spanish."

"Yeah, I'll betcha the papers that Dad talked about are there. He said the land grant wasFor Services Rendered."

"I'm sure they would be there, and most of that information is online now, too. I've often wanted to go to Austin and see some of the original correspondence. It's a large collection, like just the Spanish collection is about 2.5 linear feet of official correspondence, and that's just about politics from around that time. I don't know how many reams of paper that would be, but it would be a lot. I mean it's like letters and official communications to and from this political chief of Texas at San Antonio and it's about the land grants and the people who got them. The papers were written byempresarios, like Austin, and all the city hallalcaldes. Some were records from the offices of the commandant general of the Eastern Interior Province, and the Governor of the Mexican state of Coahuila and Texas. Just think about it. Something you or I write today will end up as an historical document to someone else in about two hundred years."

"Then I better practice my handwriting because I'm the only one who can read it."

"It can't be any worse than the actual documents we saw in class. Some had faded areas that were hard to read or showed water spots that caused ink to run. The documents would show someone who received a grant and only their initials and a last name were used, then they sold some of the land using only their first and last names. The official's names weren't hard, because we know who they were, but figuring out all of it is a real researcher's nightmare. One set of documents was a will where a man left land to his son and the son's wife. She sold it after she was widowed and remarried and the only way I could really understand it was the same woman, was because her first name was so unusual, Ernianne, or something like that."

"Well, I read the abstract on my land and I thought I figured out all of the transfers, but maybe I didn't, if what you are saying is correct."

"Yes, you may have read it, but it's hard to follow all the transfers, sometimes. An Abstract of Title is a condensed history of all transactions affecting a particular tract of land. But it's often not the actual documents, just a description of them, and they aren't always correct or complete. See to include a transfer that's backed up by a document, the document's description has to show three requirements are met, nature and date of each document, parties and date plus name and title of official who witnessed it, and the location where the document is actually recorded showing book and page numbers.

"There's another requirement that causes a lot of problems, particularly if a trial is being held in a county other than the one where it's recorded; in that case a copy has to be provided. But it's really complicated when the document was never recorded or was lost or destroyed. Then the only thing to do is provide a description of the lost or destroyed document. Even if that information is provided and affidavits are used for the missing document, a court has to allow the missing document to amend the abstract because the trial must be confined to the information contained in the abstract of title. It doesn't happen as often now, but a couple of generations ago, it was a big deal in lots of instances."

Howard shook his head, "You might need to tell me all of that again, until I can understand it."

"It's really simple, if you think about it. The existing abstract is the legal document, unless a correction is accepted. All the rest are requirements the documents have to meet to be included."

"So when I was asking about the original land grant for services rendered, if what my dad said was true, does that mean Santos might not really own his ranch, and that maybe I do?"

"I don't know, Howard. It's likely that every document used to prepare the abstract is in your county clerk's office. And if it's not there, it's at the state General Land Office."

"Then if Santos said his multi--grandfather bought his ranch from my multi--grandfather, he could be right? But if it happened like Dad said, Santos is full of bluster, trying to keep something that's not really his."

"Yes, Texas, like most of the other southwest states, is a fee simple state. The owner has the right to control, use, and transfer the property at will."

"Okay Gail, I'm going to think about all of that, while I try to remember everything Dad told me Grandpa said."

"Ah, Howard ... did you move ... did you do something with my letters? I left them here in the bottom of my food box."

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Please comment or send feedback to let me know if you find this an interesting story. A specialThank you to Erik Thread for a magnificent and patient job of editing.