Stolen Heritage: A Mexican-American's Rediscovery of His Family's Lost Land Grant

by Abel G. Rubio, Thomas Kreneck (Foreword by)

Overview

Murder, violence, and intimidation are the bitter grapes of the Becerra and de la Garza families, early day Spanish settlers who had been in Texas several generations when Stephen F. Austin and other American empresarios received land grants in the early 1820s and 19302.

The author, a member of the family, tells of an emotional and successful odyssey to find the family’s lost land grant—their “stolen heritage.” After a long search of state archives and county records, he discovered that his great-grandfather had been defrauded of land that today is in the middle of one of the largest ranches in South Texas.

His account of the family’s attempt to recover what they consider their landed heritage is charged with emotion, family feuds, and a lawsuit. This book has been called one of the best-researched books on South Texas, the history of the land and the clash of the two cultures that settled South Texas.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681791333
Publisher:	Wild Horse Media Group LLC
Publication date:	08/27/2018
Pages:	310
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.65(d)

About the Author

Abel Rubio was born in Goliad County, Texas. Orphaned at age ten, after the tragic deaths of his parents, brothers, and sisters in an automobile accident, he went to live with relatives. Rubio dropped out of school at fourteen to go on the migrant trail-first to pick cotton in Texas, later to Wisconsin to pick cherries and hoe corn, then to Indiana where Rubio harvested tomatoes. He returned to his native Texas and joined the United States Marine Corps in early 1947, volunteering for combat service in Korea with the First Marine Division. He arrived in Korea in October 1952 and was assigned to a mine-clearing platoon in which he saw extensive duty.

Returning to the United States in October 1953, Rubio was stationed in various posts here and abroad. He retired with over twenty years of active service. After an additional ten years in the Fleet Marine Corps Reserves, Sergeant Rubio was placed on the retired rolls in 1977.

Rubio was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Fleet Reserve Association, Marine Corps League, Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the Texas Catholic Historical Society. He earned a bachelor's degree in accounting, a profession he practiced in Houston, Texas. Rubio passed away December 10, 2012.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Thomas H. Kreneck - vii

Acknowledgments - xv

Introduction - xvii

1. The Search Begins - 1

2. Mounting Suspicions - 21

3. Home in South Texas - 29

4. Growing Up Tejano - 39

5. A Century of Becerras - 51

6. New Light on an Old Grant - 76

7. The Original Tejanos: A Fresh Look - 90

8. Pay Dirt in Texas Soil - 113

9. The Search Bears Fruit - 122

10. Night Riders and Murder - 130

11. A Lawsuit and Family Troubles - 154

12. A Battle Lost; the War Continues - 174

Endnotes - 195

Bibliography - 195

Photos - 205

index - 207

Editorial Reviews

A model of detective work which will attract the notice of professional historians . . . an engrossing tale of frontier injustice emanating from a combination or oral tradition and archival research.

Arnoldo De Leon - Associate Professor - Angelo State University



This book is the best-researched book on South Texas, its land history, and the shock of the two distinct cultures which make up that part of our state . . . More than just a family history or the history of the Tejanos in that part of the state, the book also provides a way for further study of an area long neglected and poorly attended by historians and other researchers . . .

Roland Hinojosa Smith - Professor - University of Texas at Austin

From the Publisher