I have some land records that I believe belong to my Thomas J. MORRIS of Red River Co.: District : Harrison; Nacogdoches County : Upshur Grantee : Thos. J. Morris Certificate : 33 Survey/Blk/Tsp : 25 Acres : 306 Class :   Harr'n. 3rd   File : 954 My question is what doe the class "Harr's. 3rd" designate and why is there no date? If it signifies Pres. Harrison then it is too late to be my TJ's. Does anyone know? Thanks, Charmaine Charmaine Riley Holley archivehobbit@mac.com "...but hobbits have a passion for family history." - Tolkein in Lord of the Rings

That is a Harrison County or Land district, 3rd Class Land grant. From the Handbook of Texas (http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/tools/article_extracts/mpl1_extract.html ) "'Third class' headrights of 640 acres for heads of families and 320 acres for single men went to recipients who immigrated to Texas after October 1, 1837, and before January 1, 1840." I also found: District: Harrison; Panola County: Panola Grantee: Thomas J. Morris Certificate: 33 Acres: 320 Class: Harr'n 3rd. File: 961 Now the bad news. Land grants were given as conditional certificates. They had to go locate the land. The original grant could have been generated in Red River,or Harrison. Land finally located in Panola or Upshur. The land is named after the grantee. However, the certificate could have been sold to someone else. It does not mean your ancestor lived on the land. With 2 different counties mentioned and 2 separate file, you need to research BOTH to make sure you have the same person. Write: Texas General Land Office Archives and Records Division 1700 North Congress Avenue Austin, Texas 78701-1495 Request an estimates on copying both of these files. Be sure to say you want the entire file copied , surveyors notes, grant certificates, the minutes of the Board of Commissioners if they exist, and the State of Texas Patent. That will get you everything that they have. It will not be cheap($2 per page), but the information is usually invaluable. You will then know the neighbors and when the land was surveyed and who the Chain Carriers were that assisted the Surveyor. (Usually neighbors or kinsman!) A cheaper but very much slower way is to do the research yourself in the land records of Nacogdoches, Upshur, Harrison, and Panola counties. Also, I would check the Red River indexes. During the early Republic of TX time, there were 2 places to record land: Clarksville in Red River County and in Nacogdoches. If either of these people turn out to be provable as your ancestor, you will be eligible for the Sons of the Republic of Texas! Jeri Steele (DRT member) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Charmaine Riley Holley wrote: > I have some land records that I believe belong to my Thomas J. MORRIS > of Red River Co.: > > District : Harrison; Nacogdoches > County : Upshur > Grantee : Thos. J. Morris > Certificate : 33 > Survey/Blk/Tsp : 25 > Acres : 306 > Class : Harr'n. 3rd > File : 954 > > > My question is what doe the class "Harr's. 3rd" designate and why is > there no date? > If it signifies Pres. Harrison then it is too late to be my TJ's. Does > anyone know? > > Thanks, > Charmaine > > > Charmaine Riley Holley > archivehobbit@mac.com > > "...but hobbits have a passion for family history." > - Tolkein in Lord of the Rings > > > ==== TXREDRIV Mailing List ==== > Visit Red River County GenWeb site http://www.rootsweb.com/~txredriv > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy > records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > > >