Milam County, Texas

In July 1876, Texas gave a pension of $150 a year to surviving indigent veterans and Signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Soon money ran out and land was substituted. A 1,280 acre donation land grant was given to veterans, their widows, and Signers. About 1,300,920 acres were given in these Veteran Donation land grants.

Under the Confederate Soldier's Bill of April 5, 1881, wounded Confederate soldiers, their servants, or their widows were eligible to receive a 1,280-acre land certificate.

Those having property valued at $1,000 or more were ineligible, and the applicant had to take two witnesses to the county court to attest to his or her eligibility. The county courts certified eligibility to the General Land Office, which in turn issued the certificates. Certificates could only be located on public domain, and for every plot of land located on a Confederate scrip certificate, a like amount of acreage had to be surveyed for the Permanent School Fund, since half the public domain had been reserved for the school fund.

Though the objective of the bill was to help provide for Confederate veterans and their widows, most of those receiving the certificates sold them to others, for an average of $100 to $200 a certificate. One certificate went for $5. A total of 2,068 certificates for 2,647,040 acres were issued from July 5, 1881, to February 16, 1883. Of these, 1,726 certificates (1,979,852 acres) were properly surveyed and 342 certificates (437,760 acres) were rejected. The bill was repealed in 1883.

Seven (7) Reels Microfilm - Libraries Available: Clayton Genealogy Library, Houston, Texas

Researched and placed here by Lynna Kay Shuffield, Oran M. Roberts Chapter 440, United Daughters of the Confederacy®