Milam's Colony Records

Summary
In 1826, Benjamin Rush Milam received an empresario contract to settle 300 families between the Guadalupe and Colorado Rivers north of the San Antonio Road. Talbot Chambers was appointed land commissioner and issued fifty-three land titles to settlers in Milam's Colony in 1835. The records of Milam's Colony includes land titles, testimonios, unfinished titles, blank titles, correspondence, and plat maps.
Biographical Note
Benjamin Rush Milam is best known for leading one of the two companies at the Seige of Bexar in the fall of 1835. He came to Texas in 1818 and became involved in the struggle for Mexican independence. In 1826, he received an empresario contract to settle 300 families between the Guadalupe and Colorado Rivers north of the San Antonio Road.

Talbot Chambers was appointed land commissioner and issued fifty-three land titles to settlers in Milam's Colony in 1835.

For more information on Milam and Milam's Colony see the entry for Ben Milam (1788-1835) at the Handbook of Texas Online.
Scope and Content
The records of Milam's Colony includes land titles, testimonios, unfinished titles, blank titles, correspondence, and plat maps, 1824-1835. The Records also include a volume of transcribed titles dated October 7, 1845. The correspondence includes Milam's empresario contract and other documents relating to the management of the colony.

The contract records and correspondence with a preceding number come directly from the Catalogue of the Spanish Collection, Part II and can be viewed online. See the Texas General Land Office Land Grant Database and input the number into the Certificate field.
Date
1824-1835; 1845
Extent
8.54 Linear feet (4 document boxes, 2 bound volumes, 3 maps)
Language
Spanish
Arrangement
The Records are arranged into 3 series:
1. Contract records and correspondence, 1824-1835: arranged chronologically.
Because the Records are physically part of the Spanish Collection, the contract records and correspondence are mixed in with material from other collections which accounts for the addition of 2 document boxes while only adding 0.25 linear inches of material to the collection.
2. Titles and testimonios, 1835, undated: arranged per physical order.
3. Plat maps, undated; arranged in original order.
Preferred Citation
Milam's Colony Records (SC.MC). Archives and Records Program, Texas General Land Office, Austin.
Access Restrictions
Unrestricted access.
Use Restrictions
Most records created by Texas state agencies are not copyrighted and may be freely used in any way. State records also include materials received by, not created by, state agencies. Copyright remains with the creator. The researcher is responsible for complying with U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S.C.).
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