Address to the Reader of the Documents Relating to the Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company - 1831

Address to the Reader of the Documents relating to the Galveston Bay & Texas Land Company, which are contained in the Appendix. New York: Printed by G.F. Hopkins & Son, January 1, 1831. 4to, 69 pages total with last page missing. The Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company was founded in New York on October 16, 1830, for the purpose of colonizing lands assigned to empresarios Joseph Vehlein, David G. Burnet, and Lorenzo de Zavala. Two months later, on December 27, 1830, the Galveston Bay Company dispatched the schooner Angelia from New York with fifty-seven emigrants sent to prepare temporary quarters and plant crops for the prospective settlers. In January 1831, the Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company issued this booklet which contained announcements of company policy, contract terms, and the provisions of the Law of April 6, 1830, concerning colonization. Because of this law, which prohibited further immigration to Texas from the United States, Mexican officials refused to let the passengers on the Angelia locate land or settle, even though most of them were supposed to be from Germany or Switzerland. The immigrants were allowed to stay and given permission to build huts and plant gardens on the Trinity River. In short order, a second boatload of colonists arrived, and they too found themselves without prospect of title or land. Following this, the company apparently decided that further literature was useless until after the repeal of the Law of April 6, 1830 became effective in May 1834. The Articles of Association printed in the appendix provide for one thousand shares of capital stock and for script and give the text of their respective certificates. There are also English translations of various other documents including: the Law of April 6, 1830; the texts of the Empresario Grants and their accompanying papers; the Colonization Laws of January 4, 1823, August 18, 1824, and March 24, 1825; and the Regulations For Surveys dated September 4, 1827. Winkler suggests that the Law of April 6, 1830, appeared in English translation here for the first time. This is almost certainly the case as far as its appearance in a book or pamphlet form is concerned. Streeter Texas 1123 "When in the fall of 1830 the Galveston Bay Company was organized to colonize its Texas land grants on a large scale, the colonization of Texas thus far had been very largely carried on by Stephen F. Austin and though, as Dr. Barker points out (Life of Austin, p. 208), the fraudulent promotion of a land company had been attempted in 1829, the Galveston Bay Company is the first of such companies which actually sent colonists to Texas. The organization by John Charles Beals of the Arkansas and Texas Land Company followed a few months later. The Address to the Reader, giving an account of Texas and its opportunities for emigrants, is well done and is one of the earliest accounts of Texas in English. It refers, though a little disingenuously, to the prohibition against immigration in the law of April 6, 1830, and later refers to it as "occasional and temporary," but it does give the complete text in the appendix. the prohibition of the law, however, was very real and colonists sent to Texas late in 1830 were not allowed to go to the company's lands. The company apparently then decided that the issue of further literature was useless until after the repeal of the law became effective in May, 1834. .... Many years ago Mr. Winkler suggested to me that the law of April 6, 1830, appeared in English translation here for the first time. That is almost certainly the case as far as appearance in a book or pamphlet form is concerned. It will be seen by the foregoing that the Address and its documents provide a compendium of information on much of the history of Texas colonization." Rader 1521; Clark 43; Sabin 93710. Small chunk taken out of gutter of title-leaf affecting the "G" in "Galveston Bay" and bottom right chunk from title page not affecting print. Toned, dbd, overall in vg cond.