Around 1820, Moses Austin was given permission by Spain to colonize part of Spanish Texas. Although he would soon die and Mexico's independence from Spain would complicate the original agreement, Moses' son Stephen F. Austin would carry on his efforts. The first group of Anglo settlers brought by Austin to colonize Texas around 1821 numbered 300 families or so. They are now known as Austin's Old 300.
Among these 300 families were two and a half families that appear in my ancestry: the Daniel Gilleland, Sr. family, the Thomas Boatwright, Sr. family, and Nancy Johnson (wife of Thomas Williams), all in the Anders line. Nancy is Daniel's mother, and she remarried to Thomas Williams after the death of her husband William Gilleland.
It should be noted that the difficult parentage of James "Jimmie" Adda Anders lies within the family line to the Gilleland and Boatwright families. This is the reason research of her parentage is so important. With the approval of the Sons of the Republic of Texas and The Descendants of Austin's Old Three Hundred we have a measure of confidence that the research is correct and we are indeed descendants of these early Texas settlers.
Images of the original land grants received by Daniel and Thomas are linked below. Although they arrived in Texas in 1821, their land grants and colony admission were not finalized until 1824.
Daniel Gilleland was granted land on 03 Aug 1824. He (officially) applied to enter Stephen F. Austin's colony in the Town of San Felipe de Austin on 29 Jul 1824. He is granted one labor of land in what would become Austin County, Texas.
Thomas Boatwright, Sr. was granted land on 27 Jul 1824. He (officially) applied to enter Stephen F. Austin's colony in the Town of San Felipe de Austin on 26 Jul 1824. He is granted one labor of land in what would become Austin County, Texas.
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