Peter's Colony

Peters Colony[1] (Peters' Colony) is a name applied to four empresario land grant contracts first by the Republic of Texas and then the State of Texas for settlement in north Texas. The contracts were signed groups of American and English investors originally headed by William Smalling Peters. Samuel Browning, Peters' son-in-law, signed the first contract with the Republic of Texas in Austin, Texas on August 30, 1841. Ownership of the empresario company changed many times during the life of the contracts.

The original boundary of Peters Colony started on the Red River at the mouth of Big Mineral Creek, currently in western Grayson County, running south 60 miles, then west 22 miles, then back north to the Red River, and then east along the Red River to the point of origin at Big Mineral Creek. According to the contact, the empresarios were required to recruit 200 families from outside the Republic in three years. Each single man could be granted 320 acres or each family 640 acres. The empresarios were allowed to keep up to half of the settler's grants for services rendered. These services included surveying, title documents, shot, powder, seed, and in some cases a log cabin. The terms of the contract involving titles and the retention of property by the company lead to problems between settlers and the company for many years requiring additional legislation by the Congress of the Republic of Texas and the legislature of the State of Texas.

There was insufficient unappropriated land within the original boundary. There were already settlers and trading posts in the area. A second contract was requested that extended the boundary 40 miles south. It was signed on November 9, 1841. Peters' company had trouble meeting the deadlines, and requested a third contract. It was signed by Sam Houston on July 26, 1842. It extended the boundary to include a 12 mile wide strip on the east and a 10 mile wide strip on the west. The fourth contract was signed on January 20, 1843. It extended that deadline to July 1, 1848 and expanded the boundary to include 10 million acres to the west.

The area of Peters Colony was large. It included all or portions of Denton, Collin, Cooke, Grayson, Dallas, Tarrant, Wise and Palo Pinto counties and more.[2] The additional area of 10 million acres is large enough to include 17 Texas 900 sq. mi. counties.

References

  1. ↑ Harry E. Wade, "PETERS COLONY," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/uep02), accessed May 15, 2015. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
  2. ↑ "Historical Maps Peter's Colony Maps Available Thru the Texas General Land Office", Carrollton & Farmers Branch TXGenWeb (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txccarro/Maps/GLO_Maps/index.htm), accessed May 16, 2015.
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