In the early days of the Republic of Texas, it was one thing for a group of
citizens to prevail upon the Republic of Texas to
“cut off” their land into a new county, but yet quite another to define the exact
boundaries of that new county, especially when adjacent counties were having
their own boundary issues. Over time, the boundary disputes were worked out,
but the process sometimes was long and complicated.
Continuing in my quest to uncover the history of my own little piece of property
near Spring Creek in Montgomery County, I
’ve found more evidence that the borders of Montgomery County were only loosely
defined on Dec. 14, 1837, when the county of Montgomery was established, and
that the county surveyors were at odds with those of neighboring county
Harrisburg.
While historians have puzzled over the extent of Montgomery County’s eastern boundary for several decades, its southern boundary has also been in a
grey fog. Spring Creek was a natural boundary, meandering for almost 40 miles
from east to west, but apparently the short-lived county of Harrisburg believed
it held title to lands north of Spring Creek, as far as Lake Creek, far into
Mont-gomery County. A map compiled from surveyors
’ maps by the General Land Office of Texas shows the extent of Harrisburg County’s reach in 1840.
The Republic of Texas passed a Resolution in January 1840 that declared legal
the boundaries of Harrisburg County, stating that Harrisburg County
’s northern boundary was defined as “… south of a direct line running from the head of Pond Creek to the mouth of Lake
Creek, previous to the twenty-fourth May, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight,
and north of Spring Creek, are hereby declared to be legal: provided they do
not interfere with surveys previously made by the surveyors of Montgomery
County.
”
An Act passed by that same body in June 1840 further defines the boundaries of
Montgomery County on all sides and specifically with reference to Spring Creek
states:
“Beginning at the mouth of Beesair’s Creek; thence, to a point now established at the head of Pond Creek; thence to
the head of Spring Creek; thence, with its meanders, to San Jacinto; thence,
north fifty degrees east, to the western line of Liberty County; thence along
said line to the north-west corner of said county; thence, eastwardly with said
northern line of the same to Trinity River; thence, up said river, on its right
bank, to the crossing of the Old San Antonio Road; thence, westwardly with said
road to the Navasota; thence, down the Navasota, on its left bank, to its
mouth; thence, down the Brazos, on its left bank, to the place of the
beginning.
”
Using maps, one can see that there was overlap in their claims to the Spring
Creek area. The Resolution and the Act together provide the first working
definition to the boundaries of both counties while allowing the individual
surveyors
’ maps to be taken into consideration. Eventually, the discrepancies were worked
out plat by plat, placing my little plot of land within the boundary line of
Montgomery County.
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