[Manuscript Documents Concerning Business Between Early San Antonio Notables Maria Josefa de la Garza and James L. Trueheart]

Bexar County, Tx, 1859. Very good.. Three manuscript documents, totaling four pages. Old folds, some edge wear, minor to moderate toning. A small group of documents memorializing business transactions between Maria Josefa de la Garza and James. L. Trueheart, two prominent figures in San Antonio in the mid-19th century. Mrs. Garza was married to Jose Antonio de la Garza, a prominent early San Antonio landowner and minter of coinage. She took over the family's affairs after after Jose's death in 1851, and became an important local landowner. James L. Trueheart was a longtime Bexar County official who was swept up in the Perote Prison affair and spent two (truncated) years in jail in Mexico City in the 1840s. He was also engaged in real estate in San Antonio. According to his entry in the Handbook of Texas: "He married Petra Margarita de la Garza on February 15, 1848. By the marriage he became owner of a tract on the San Antonio River on which was located San Francisco de la Espada Mission. He improved the land, built an irrigation system, and placed a number of families there on small farm plots." Josefa and Trueheart were in-laws after the latter married Josefa's sister (or daughter) Margarita, as well as neighbors in San Antonio, and conducted various business together, as evidenced here. The present documents are detailed as follows:

1) James L. Trueheart. Autograph Letter, Signed, to Maria Josefa de la Garza. April 27, 1856. One page. In Spanish. Here, Trueheart informs Josefa about various activities involved with surveying land on his "rancho."

2) James L. Trueheart. Autograph Document, Signed by Both Trueheart and Maria Josefa de la Garza. May 5, 1859. Two pages. In Spanish. The longest and most detailed document of the three in the present group, it is effectively a contract between Trueheart and Josefa. Here, as guardian of her two minor sons Jesus and Leonardo, Josefa grants permission to Trueheart to build a fence near the corral of her ranch, to use the land within said fence as a pasture, and for other purposes. The document is written entirely in Trueheart's hand, and signed by both parties. The document mentions the fence being built along lands on which sits "de la casa de Mr. Crawford." Josefa would later marry said John Carroll Crawford.

3) Maria Josefa de la Garza. Document, Signed. September 1, 1859. One page. In English. A short document in which Josefa attests that Trueheart "Rec'd from Mrs Garza Twenty five dollars on account of a well made for her. Signed simply, "Josefa."

The documents stand as an interesting instance of a Mexican-American woman in Texas conducting business with another prominent citizen in mid-19th century San Antonio. (Inventory #: 5991)