[Manuscript Document Recording a Land Sale in Mexican Texas, Signed by the Two Women Who Sold the Land, and Others, Including Stephen William Blount, Signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence]

San Augustine, Tx: November 11, 1834. Good.. [4]pp. on two folio sheets, the first sheet on official "Sello Tercero" paper with the printed seal of Coahuila y Tejas at middle. Old folds, minor chipping along two fold lines costing a handful of words in the second leaf, several archival tape repairs to closed tears, moderate foxing and toning. An interesting manuscript land deed documenting the sale of a tract of land in San Augustine, Texas by a mother and daughter named Mary Concesion Sims and Marguerite Latham in 1834. The tract of land is described in detail, situated "on the West side of the Act Bayou having half a mile & five chains front on the Laid Bayou and running backwards three miles and bounded on the North by the lower line of the land sold by Jose Lewis(?) to A.C. Allen, and on the South by the land belonging to Athanase Cerda...." The two women sold the land for $100, and because they could not write, they each signed the document with an "X." The document is also signed by two assisting witnesses, Chichester Chaplin and George English. Both men were notable early Anglo-Texans. Chaplin served in the Fredonian Rebellion and held various legal capacities in Jefferson and San Augustine counties; English was the first sheriff of the Ayish Bayou District (near San Augustine) under Mexican rule in 1827 and was still serving in that capacity when the present document was signed. He later served with distinction at the Siege of Bexar in 1835 and later in the Mexican-American War and for the Texas Confederacy during the Civil War (the latter in his mid-to-late 50s). In addition to the original signers of the deed, the document contains additional docketing and subsequent transfer statements from various officials, including the original docketing in 1834, and additional notations in 1835, 1837, and 1839. The latter date relates to an attestation statement recorded by Stephen William Blount on January 28, 1839, while serving as county clerk. Blount was a major figure in Texas history - a county official, soldier in the Texas Revolutionary Army, delegate to the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos, and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. An unusual early Texas land document, signed by two women landowners and several notable Texas Revolutionary-era figures.