[Manuscript Document, Signed, and Plat Map Authorizing the Sale of a Plot of Land Near the Texas Gulf Coast Granted to Sophia Ralph to a Resident of the Republic of Texas]

Jasper County, Republic of Texas: July 8, 1845. Good.. [3]pp., on a single folded folio sheet, plus manuscript plat map tipped onto the bottom margin of the second leaf. Substantial browning to paper, second leaf split along central horizontal fold, not affecting any text. Signed by Sophia Ralph and two witnesses, with a few later secretarial inscriptions. An intriguing document memorializing a rare instance in early Texas concerning land holdings by a woman, Sophia Ralph. In consideration of the sum of $2000, Ralph sold Thomas B. Huling the league granted to her as a colonist by commissioner G.A. Nixon, "with the saving & exception of four hundred acres more or less that the older survey of Thos. F. McKinney...may conflict with same, as may be further seen by reference to the map...." The attached manuscript plat map illustrates Sophia Ralph's league of land in Jefferson County, outlined in red, and defining the neighboring plots of land, including the portion in dispute with McKinney.

Sophia Ralph is listed in Gifford White's book Character Certificates in the General Land Office of Texas as a widow living in Nacogdoches as of December 3, 1834. A note attached to her record by the alcalde of Nacogdoches, Vital Flores, indicates she had two children and her property was part of the Zavalla Grant between Pine Island Bayou and the Neches. George A. Nixon was a commissioner for the Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company. He sold land on the empresario grants of David Burnet, Joseph Vehlein, and Lorenzo de Zavala beginning in June 1834. According to the Handbook of Texas, Nixon had issued more than a thousand titles by the end of 1835. The Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company, however, did not own the Texas land but sold scrip to incoming settlers who were then obligated to satisfy further requirements of Mexican colonization law in order to obtain full legal title to the land. The purchaser, Thomas B. Huling, represented Jasper County in the Fifth Congress of the Republic of Texas from 1840-41. A rare record of early Texas land ownership by a woman, accompanied by an attractive plat map detailing the location of her land. (Inventory #: 5767)