Dora, W. Billingsley had land near Watterson. http://www.rootsweb.com/~txbastro/map/bastropmap12.gif Also, there is two Chambers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~txtammy/bastrop/map/bastropmap7.gif The last names that border this property match the 1880 census but not the first names. Considering the map is 1929 and the census was 1880, descendants would have received some of the property so the last names would be the same. Look under A. Black, near the railroad track. Follow the railroad track on down to the L. Barker survey and near the smudge is another Chambers. There is also a J. Billingsley on this part of the map, nearby towards the top. All this land on the right of the railroad track was condemed by the government during World War II (or was it I?) and Camp Swift was formed. I can't remember the date but families were forced to move. Later, they were offered their land back, at a price, but most had settled elsewhere. Also, the names with your Alex Chambers on the 1870 census index, such as Hemphill, Corbell, Watterson, McDonald and Talley are in the Red Rock and Watterson areas. All are my family except McDonald. A Mattie McDonald married William M Eastland who lived in Watterson, near Red Rock. Oops, take that back. Their daughter Mattie Bates McDonald married John Stubblefield Hemphill, son of William. If you go to the maps, look for P. Hemphill. P is Pole (Napoleon) and he is also the son of William. I have some of the 1880 census and I don't see a Chambers near these families on what I have. If you will type up the deeds you have and put them on the bastrop website using the deed puzzle piece, we can look at them and maybe find more clues for you. One thing that sticks out to me is that you do not mention a headright name. Most deeds contained this information. I have found the deeds in the Bastrop Town tract do not mention a headright name. Mine says Micah Andrews Survey but is not in the town tract. This is the way they identify the location of the land so if it's not in there, it could be that the land was in town. I haven't seen a deed for McDade or Smithville so it could be the same for these locations. Also, when they rented it probably won't have a headright or survey mentioned on it. In addition, on the main page of the Bastrop website, at the bottom, there is a paragraph about the border changes of Mina (Bastrop) County. Part of Fayette was part of Bastrop for a long time. While I was looking for info for someone, the earlier records were at the courthouse in the present county (Lee), not the former county (Bastrop), but don't know if this is always the case. Tammy Owen Bastrop CO, TX Coordinator Bastropcc@aol.com http://www.rootsweb.com/~txbastro/bastrop.htm http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~txtammy/bastrop/bastropmain.html