One source of information for people with the genealogy disease is abstracts.  As abstract is the history of a piece of land beginning with the headright survey given to the first settler when Texas became independent from Mexico in 1836, or until all the land had been assigned to an owner.  If you have an abstract, it is very valuable to you and some other people who may want some of the history that is written there.  There was a time when you had to buy an abstract to get a clear title for a piece of land before you sold the land.  Nowdays all you have to have is an insured title.  I happen to have one abstract for one acre of land about three miles south of New Boston and I will use it for an example.

The abstract was purchased from Texarkana Title and Abstract Company, "Makers of Abstracts for Bowie County Lands Since 1882".  In 1889 the Bowie County Courthouse burned destroying all the records including the land deeds..........wrong!  When T J Watlington was county clerk, 1880-1888, he copied all the land deeds.  The county's records were burned but there were copies in private hands which means you have to pay for them and so we do.  Now if you go to Clarksville to a courthouse that has never burned, you may look at the land records all the way back to 1836 in Red River County for free because they belong to the people of Red River County.  Since Bowie County was once part of Red River County, you might want to do that.

Now back to the abstract I was describing to you, the first page tells where the land is located and says that it is part of the Richard Ellis Headright Survey.  The second page is a land Patent dated October 7, 1844 from the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston, President and William Ward, Commissioner to Richard Ellis and a description of one labor of land; that's 177 acres.  The next page is dated January 11, 1845 and transfers ownership from Richard Ellis to James N Smith.  The witnesses were F Seidikum and S M Rice, the County Clerk.  The next page is dated November of 1853.  It transfers ownership of this land to the minor children of James N Smith and states that James N Smith received the land from the estate of Richard Ellis Dec'd which implies a relationship to Richard Ellis.  It quotes the will of James N Smith, saying that he desires that his mother and minor children to occupy the homestead of his estate and live from the proceeds of his plantation.  The wife is not mentioned.  The seven people named are: Mary Eliza Smith, Lucy N Smith, James R Smith, Elizabeth A Smith, Banjamin M Smith, John T Smith, and Laura Smith.  Six of those people were his minor children.  The date of filing was December 26, 1854 which means he had died by that time.

So the abstract describes what happened to the piece of land right on down the line until the present time.  The next page tells how the land was sold at the courthouse door by order of the County Court of Bowie County, Texas on the 21st day of February in 1870 to B T Estes.  $230.40 was paid for it which probably went toward back taxes that had not been paid by the former owners, J N Smith and S T Smith, deceased, with James Hubbard, Adm'r debonis non.  The next page transfers 50 acres of the land to A G Hoskins for $125 on January 31, 1871.  On the next page, 25 acres of that land was sold to W N Tilson for $62.50 on April 19, 1872.  Now an amazing thing happens....W H Tilson sold the same 25 acres of land to Mrs F E Watson for $500 on December 29, 1880.  Either the price of land really went up or the figures are not correct.  The next page gives the land to the daughter of Mrs Fannin E Watson, Almedia Daniels.  On another page O J Daniel is given as the husband of Almedia Daniel.  If the history of the land can be traced back to the original headright without any gaps, then the title of the land is said to be clear and can be sold to another person.

On the abstract that I have used as an illustration, these two families might find proof of a relationship that may not be given on any other public record.