Texas surveyor (1782–1839), Alamo defender, courier, and Texian officer during the Texas Revolution. Manuscript DS, signed “Byrd Lockhart,” three pages on two adjoining sheets, 7.75 x 12.75, October 25, 1836. Document in which Byrd Lockhart "grants in real and public sale, and perpetual alienation by way of successive right forever, to the Citizen Charles Lockhart a resident of the Municipality of Gonzales, the undivided half of a league of land which was granted to the said Byrd Lockhart as one of the four leagues obtained by special grant from the Government of the State of Coahuila and Texas, and being the third League located of the above mentioned grant, and the said league is situated on the S.W. side of the Guadeloupe River, distant from the Town of Gonzales twenty two thousand two hundred and forty varas [about 11.7 miles]….It is the undivided half of the above described league of land that is hereby intended to be conveyed and the said Byrd Lockhart declares and assures that he has not heretofore sold or mortgaged said land…and as such he sells the half league of land to the said Charles Lockhart…for the sum of five hundred dollars.” Signed at the conclusion by Lockhart, and also signed "Andrew Ponton" as "First Judge and Notary Public," "John Fennel" and "Arthur Burns" as "Instrumental Witnesses," and "Almond Cottle," and "Jonathan Cottle" as "Assisting Witnesses." Missing lower half of second integral page, tape repair to partial horizontal separation of first page, and irregular overall foxing and toning, otherwise very good condition. All the writing and signatures remain quite bold and clear.
Byrd Lockhart completed all of DeWitt Colony’s land surveys after 1826, assisted by his brother Charles Lockhart. One large project undertaken was surveying and supervising the construction of the road from San Antonio to Austin and south through Gonzales to Matagord. For payment, Byrd Lockhart was granted four leagues of land (18,576 acres) by the Mexican government, which via this document he later shared with his sibling. In October 1835, Lockhart began acting as a scout for the Texian Army and served under Stephen Austin at the Siege of Bexar, one of the Revolution’s earliest major campaigns. Lockhart was at the Alamo while the army of Santa Anna was already in the vicinity of San Antonio, but he and Andrew Jackson Sowell were sent out to obtain supplies shortly before the battle commenced. Experiencing a delay while buying cattle at Gonzales, the pair were saved from being caught in the massacre when the Alamo fell. An extremely scarce early Texas document. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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