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February 10, 1840
Galveston, Texas
Samuel Bangs (American, c. 1798–1854), printer
Printed by Samuel Bangs, Texas' first printer, and signed by Gail Borden, the first official printer for the Republic of Texas, this document is considered a "Rosetta Stone" for identifying Bangs' imprints during this time period. It utilizes no fewer than 18 different type fonts, indicative of the variety of types available in Bangs' shop.
The document conveys lots in Galveston sold at auction by the Galveston City Company, and is signed by directors James Love, Levi Jones, Samuel May Williams and Peter J. Menard.
Signed by Thomas F. McKinney, a trader and stock raiser who was a financial backer of the Texas Revolution. In 1833 he joined a scheme to claim Galveston Island and settled there, from where he was a State Senator in 1846 and a representative in 1849.
Lands were granted to Bangs by the Mexican government. The smaller parcels in central Texas were lost to a dishonest lawyer who Bangs authorized to administer to his titles. Bangs had intended to facilitate the settlement of 250 families on the large tract next to the Rio Grande river. After the Revolution, the government of the Republic of Texas invalidated his and other extent empresario contracts.
It is a grim irony that Bangs was unable to recover any of the land granted to him after it was swindled from him by a lawyer named Thomas Jefferson Chambers (1802–1865) who he had engaged to attend to his titles while he attended to his work in Mexico. One might hope that he did not feel the sting of the loss of his lands when he set the type to produce documents of this sort.