Antique Document 1835 Mexican Texas Land and similar items

Written in Spanish, The document appears to be an official correspondence or petition. It mentions a person named Benjamin F. Jones, a native of the United States, addressing a commissioner or government official. The text refers to his desire to acquire land ownership in the state for agricultural and livestock purposes. Benjamin states he migrated to the area in 1831 with his family of six and requests legal recognition or documentation for his land possession. It reflects a formal request for land titles or property rights in what seems to be a frontier region. Dated October 22, 1835. Signed George W. Smyth and others. It confirms the authenticity of the petition or request and appears to finalize or validate the actions described in the earlier pages. The text mentions that this testimony has been recorded and copied as part of official procedures, adhering to laws or regulations. It's likely this is an official acknowledgment or approval of Benjamin F. Jones's land-related petition. George Washington Smyth Biography: Smyth was born in North Carolina on May 16, 1803. He was raised in Alabama and in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He attended the local schools where he lived, and an academy in Murfreesboro. He graduated from Princeton University in 1831, and then moved to Texas, which was then a province of Mexico. He resided in what is now Jasper County, where he farmed and engaged in several business ventures. During his early years in Texas, Smyth was appointed by the Mexican government to offices including surveyor and commissioner of land titles. In 1835, he served as a delegate to the convention that created the provisional government known as the Texas Consultation. In 1836, he was a delegate to the convention that declared Texas independence, and he signed the constitution of the Republic of Texas. Smyth served in the Texas government, including appointment as commissioner in charge of determining the boundary line between the Republic of Texas and the United States. He was a deputy in the Texas Congress in 1845, and was one of the authors of the constitution enacted after Texas attained statehood. In 1848, he was elected commissioner of the state's general land office. In 1852, Smyth was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat. He served in the 33rd Congress (March 4, 1853 ? March 3, 1855), but declined renomination in 1854. Smyth supported the Confederacy during the American Civil War, and served in the Confederate States Army. After the war, he was a delegate to the 1866 state constitutional convention that led to Texas' readmission to the Union. He died in Austin, Texas, on February 21, 1866, while attending a session of the convention. Smyth was buried in Austin's Texas State Cemetery. Benjamin Franklin Jones Biography: JONES, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1799?1872).Benjamin Franklin Jones, early settler and sheriff, was born in Georgia on December 14, 1799, the night George Washington died. He married Letitia Guthrie about 1826 in Mississippi; they had five children. Jones moved to Texas in 1831 and settled in Jasper County near the home of John Bevil. In 1835 he applied to Mexico for a grant and was issued a league and labor of land on October 20, 1835. The league joined the Bevil league to the east and the labor is now in Newton County. When Newton County was organized in 1836, Jones was elected the first sheriff and served for two terms. He also listed himself as a farmer and surveyor, but there is no record of his practice as a surveyor. From 1846 until after the Civil War he was hardly ever out of politics. On September 23, 1847, he married Mrs. Nancy Cooper. In 1850 he was elected commissioner of Precinct 3 but resigned to become justice of the peace. In 1856 he was elected sheriff again but lost in 1858 to G. J. P. Hardy. Jones was reelected after Hardy resigned in a special election on April 1, 1859. In 1860 he was elected chief justice and counted the votes that certified secession from the union. In 1862 he was again elected sheriff but this time under the Confederacy. He resigned in 1863, and in 1867 he became justice of the peace for Newton County Precinct 1. The only record of military service in his name appears on "A list of the names of men in the District of Bevil capable of Bearing Arms that is from 16 to 50 years of age taken by order of the Committee of Vigilance and Safety" and on a muster roll of Capt. John Ingram's company, First Regiment, First Brigade, in July 1836. When he died on November 24, 1872, Jones was living at the home of his son John H. Jones. Family tradition holds that Benjamin and John died on the same night and were buried in the same grave near Little Crow Creek; their grave has never been found.