2010-3 Remembrances Special EditionCity of Schertz
Remembrances Publication Special Edition 2010-3
Presented by® Schertz Historical Preservation Committee
John William Smith — Cibolo Valley's Most Famous Landlord
If Schertz property owners had the time, interest and enough perseverance to research
Guadalupe and/or Bexar County land records for their pr•perty's ownership history, it
would likely be discover that one of the earliest owners • that property was a man named
John William Smith (1792-1845).
The Online Handbook of Texas tells us this about Smil
Smith was the last messenger to escape the Alamo before it fell to the Mexican army.
Smith later participated in the final battle of the Texas Revolution, the battle of San
Jacinto. 2
After Texas declared its independence, Smith returned to San Antonio where he held a
number of public offices to include: Mayor (three one year terms), alderman, Bexar
county tax assessor, clerk of the Bexar county Court, clerk of the Board of Land
Commissioners of Bexar County, clerk of Bexar County Probate Court, treasurer of
Bexar County, postmaster of San Antonio, Indian commissioner of the Republic of
Texas, and senator from 1842 to January 12, 1845. At one time he held as many as
eleven different commissions under presidents San Houston and Mirabeau B. Lamar. He
was a bilingual Spanish and English speaker. He formed a real estate company that acted
as a middleman between Spanish-speaking owners of land headrights and English-
speaking land speculators. He was also an active land speculator. The tax records of
1 Lucy Josephine Newton, "Life of John Smith" San Antonio Newspaper as reported under Google — John
W. Smith.
2 Obituary of John Smith, Texas National Registry, January 18, 1845, p. 55 as reported under Google —
John W. Smith.
Bexar County for 1842-1844 reflect that he owned eleven town lots and 51,113 acres of
undeveloped land. His partner in his real estate dealings with Enoch Jones and together
they held ownership at one time to 41,129 acres. 3
Most of Smith's real estate deals occurred while he served in one or more of the above
government jobs. This circumstance would, today, certainly present a conflict of interest
for Smith but not in those days of fast and free land giveaways. He transacted thirty-eight
sales with Hispanic families between May 1937 and July 1940. 4
These land giveaway programs (headrights) were occurring during a time when only a
tenth of Texas acres were held through previous title. In slightly less than fifty years, the
government of the Republic of Texas and the United States distributed all but a few
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If certificates were sold or transferred to an assignee the name of the original certificate
holder was retained for identification purposes on the original survey plotting maps. In
the case of chertz, Texas the original certificate holders for most of its territory were
either Genobera Malpaz or Toribio Herrera both of whom sold certificate rights to Smith
and Jones. Smith, in-turn, after investing in the survey work and assuring titles for the
land, began reselling the land. By late 1837, land prices had skyrocketed and in that
same year the bubble burst, causing land prices to plummet. 7
Smith died January 13, 1845 and thereafter his property was sold to pay debts and
support his family. Unquestionably, he was a major player in the transfer of land
ownership in the early days of the Texas Republic and likely an owner of land you now
occupy as part of either the Malpaz or Herrera Surveys. This former landlord of ours was
a man of great courage, unbounded energy, and a well connected businessman whose
contributions to the liberation of Texas are little known but greatly significant.
3 Pitts, John B. 111, "Speculation In Headright Land Grants In San Antonio From 1837 to 1842", Master's
Thesis — Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Trinity University, August 1966, p. 1
4 Pitts, John B. 111, P. 1.
I Pitts, John B. 111, P. 1.
6 Categories of Land Grants in Texas, Publication of The General Land Office, State of Texas, Austin,
Texas, Revised May 205, p. 1.
7
Pitts, John B. III., p.12.
2