Auction Name: 2026 February 26 Historical Manuscripts & Texana Signature® Auction

Lot Number: 47299

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/6328*47299

Republic of Texas Oath for a First-Class Headright Issued to a San Jacinto Veteran. One page, 7 3/4 x 6 1/4 inches, "Republic of Texas / San Augustine County"; October 25, 1838. An oath submitted on behalf of Richard V. Parker in San Augustine County by Nathaniel Kelly Kellum and Alexander Horton, attesting that Parker was "a resident citizen of Texas at the date of the declaration of independence that I did not leave the country during the campaign of the spring of 1836...& that I did not aid or assist the enemy...& that I conceive myself justly entitled under the constitution & law to the quantity of land for which I now apply it being one league & labor of land." Signed, "NK Kellum," "A Horton," and "Richard V. Parker."

Kellum was a builder who operated a brickyard, iron foundry, sawmill, and tannery, and is credited with the construction of several commercial buildings in Houston. His home in Houston, built in 1847, still stands to this day. Horton was an aide-de-camp to Sam Houston during the Texas Revolution and fought at the Battle of San Jacinto.

Headrights were granted to promote settlement in the new Republic of Texas. The system divided applicants into classes based on when they arrived in Texas and whether they were single or the head of a family. First-class headrights, which conveyed the largest land grants, were reserved for those who had settled in Texas before the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836, with second- through fourth-class headrights offering progressively smaller allotments to later arrivals.

Condition: Somewhat toned with a single smoothed fold. Minor edgewear and a few very small instances of loss, affecting just a few letters.

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