Corpus Christi History by Murphy Givens

An old case of land fraud

Capt. Blas Maria de la Garza Falcón, founder of Camargo, the first Spanish settlement on the Rio Grande, set up a ranch at Petronila in 1766. He moved there with his family under the protection of Spanish soldiers. He called the place Rancho Real de Santa Petronila.
   The ranch was southwest of Corpus Christi. It gave the name to the town of Petronila, but ranch headquarters was located at today's Driscoll. Exploring expeditions were mounted from the ranch and on one of these, Falcón named Santa Gertrudis Creek for his daughter, Gertrudis de la Garza. The ranch failed because of Indian attacks and Falcón moved back to Camargo, where he died in 1767.
   Six decades later, in 1834, Falcón's great-grandson, Blas de la Garza Falcón, received a grant from the governor of Tamaulipas for five and half leagues (24,000 acres). El Chiltipín grant hugged the south bank of Agua Dulce Creek. It included part of Falcon's great grandfather's old Santa Petronila ranch.
   After Santa Anna's defeat at San Jacinto in 1836, many Mexican landowners feared for their lives. Falcón, like other Mexican ranchers, went below the Rio Grande, leaving his land and stock behind.
   Four years later, when things were beginning to settle down, Falcón returned to his deserted ranch and he visited the new settlement of Corpus Christi. He bought supplies and equipment from merchants William Mann and Henry L. Kinney, the founder of Corpus Christi.
   On one of his visits to Corpus Christi, Falcón was persuaded to sign a deed conveying his ranch, covering the five and half leagues granted to him in 1834, to Kinney and Mann. After Mann died in 1855, the heirs of his estate sued Falcon for trespass and to try title. The suit was filed in 1858 in Nueces County.
   A key witness was a man named Fermin Salas. After Kinney established his trading post, Salas testified, Falcón and other Spanish speaking ranchers began visiting Corpus Christi to trade. Salas said it was in March or April, 1840, when Falcón told him he had pawned his title papers to El Chiltipín tract for some merchandise from Kinney and Mann.
   "I heard Kinney advise Falcón that it would be better for him, Falcón, to give him El Chiltipín tract, as the Texans did not like Falcón and were going to kill him." Kinney said if he had the land, Salas said, he would be better able to defend Falcón's property. Falcón went to work for Kinney and Mann, tending their cattle on the Laureles ranch.
   "In . . . 1852, I was at the Laureles, with Mr. Mann, receiving some cattle, when I heard Mann in conversation with Blas Falcón. He told Falcón he was willing to give back his lands upon his (Falcón) paying what he owed, in horses or mules." Salas said he was present several times when Falcón asked Kinney to give him back his title papers, but Kinney always had some excuse.
   On June 25, 1858, the jury ruled that Kinney and Mann acquired Falcón's land by fraud. Mifflin Kenedy later purchased El Chiltipín grant and in 1901 Henrietta King added most of it to King Ranch.
   ?
   It has been passed down for generations that vast tracts of land owned by the original Mexican and Spanish-speaking ranchers were stolen by land-grabbing Anglos, who relied on the power of the law to assist in their larceny.
   In some cases, the land was sold by Spanish-speaking landowners who were glad to get rid of a risky investment on which they couldn't pay taxes. But there was fraud, and it did happen that all the Spanish land-grant holdings in this area ended up in the hands of wealthy Anglos, like William Mann and Charles Stillman, by the 1850s.
   Another story passed down is that Spanish-speaking citizens couldn't get a fair hearing in Texas courts. There is truth to that, too, but some did get a fair trial. Falcón did, even though no one with a Spanish surname was on the jury.
   The transfer of land ownership after the Texas Revolution is a complex story about which it is difficult to generalize. The truth may never be sorted out.
   Oops again: I wrote last week that the Princess Louise Hotel building was torn down after Celia. It still exists as an apartment complex.
  
   Murphy Givens can be reached by phone at 886-4315 or by e-mail at givensm@caller.com.
  
  
  

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