Tidbits of Shelby County History
Texas Land in Varas

This week’s article for Tidbits of Shelby County History will give a background on the Republic of Texas land grants. The writer of this article is unknown. I will give a little history that will explain the conflicts created by landownership.

The arrival of the American system of measurement caused confusion and conflict. (Note: This was the major cause of the Regulator/Moderator War in Shelby County from 1839-1844). The American system relied on a square grid for the division of land, while the Spanish used irregular distributions of land that often corresponded with social and political values. The Americans wanted their property demarcated equally, inch by inch.

To new arrivals, the variability of the vara would have seemed frustrating; on top of having sociopolitical dimensions, the Californian, Texan and Arizonan varas were slightly different. For decades, the clash over land, who owned it, and how to measure it accurately continued. The vara eventually grew so contentious that the U.S. Supreme Court heard cases disputing land with Spanish titles in American territories. The court eventually ruled in 1870 that all varas would be pegged to the Texan vara standard (0.846582 meter or 33.33 inches) for conversion purposes, and many Spanish-American residents lost land to Anglo settlers.

Vara, meaning “rod” or “pole”, is a Spanish word, and in the beginning, it meant sticks or twig or any long lean branch of a plant. Many early inhabitants to the area carried a stick or lance to aid in walking or for protection.As there were no tape measures at this time, the lance or stick was usually about 3 yards long, making it easy to carry. After using this stick or rod to measure, the measurement using this method became known as a vera.

The distance it ended up as is ….33 and one third inches. This was, in time, officially adopted as a linear measurement, and when Texas was a Spanish colon, Spain often handled out land grants described in terms of square varas. The official measurement of a var is 32.909 inches or 0.8359 meters.

It takes 5,645.4 square varas to make an acre: 4,428.4 acres to make a league. A laborof land amounted to 177.14 acres. The word means in Spanish workable, or tillable.  The labor is often used as an approximate equivalent to a quarter-section (that is, one quarter of a square mile of land).(Note: quarters sections were the most common land measurement being used in the United States during this period of history.)

When Stephen F. Austin came to Texas to settle the place, the head of every family in his colony who wanted to farm was to receive one labor of land. The head of the family who wanted to ranch was to receive one league of land. But most of the colonist, being smart, said they wanted to both farm and ranch, so they received that “league and labor of real estate.” (Note: amount was a little more than 4,659 acres of land in the new territory. Following Mexico's independence in 1821, the government sought to attract settlers, especially from the United States, to populate and develop Texas. They did this through the empresario system).

Early Texas land grants were crucial in shaping the state's settlement patterns, economic development, and unique history. These grants, issued under various administrations (Spanish, Mexican, Republic, and State of Texas), attracted settlers and fueled growth in a region that was initially sparsely populated and considered a frontier.  Many of the eastern settlers in the United States would write GTT (Gone to Texas) on the doors of their old homesteads. 

After gaining independence in 1836, the Republic of Texas and later the State of Texas continued to issue land grants, primarily through headrights, to encourage immigration and settle the vast territory.

Headright Classes:

These grants were categorized into classes based on the settler's arrival date and marital status:

1. First Class: Issued to settlers arriving before March 2, 1836, who hadn't received a previous grant.

2. Second Class: For those arriving between March 2, 1836, and October 1, 1837.

3. Third Class: For those arriving between October 1, 1837, and January 1, 1840.

4. Fourth Class: Issued to those arriving between January 1, 1840, and January 1, 1842.

Preemption and Homestead Grants:

In 1845, the Republic passed the Preemption Act, allowing settlers already occupying public land to purchase up to 320 acres they had improved or intended to improve. This evolved into the Homestead Act in 1854, with subsequent modifications in acreage and residency requirements.

Military Land Grants: Texas rewarded military service with land, granting bounty and donation grants to soldiers and veterans of conflicts like the Texas Revolution and the Civil War.