by J. J. Bowden
Luisa Chavez and Juan B. Nieto, as heirs and legal representatives of Miguel de Alire, filed suit[1] in the Court of Private Land Claims on March 2, 1893, seeking the confirmation of the Alamo Grant which allegedly had been granted to Alire sometime prior to May 18, 1769. They described the grant as containing about 2,000 acres and being bounded:
On the north, by the Camino de Curros; on the east, by the lands granted to Antonio Armijo at the mouth of the Cañada de los Pinos; on the south, by the heights of the Arroyo de los Chamisos; and on the west, by the Alamo.
They stated that for many years they had diligently searched for the expediente of the grant and, since it had not been found, presumed it had been lost or destroyed. However, as evidence of the, grant, they filed a copy of the grant papers[2] for the Antonio Armijo Grant which called “the Alamo of Miguel de Alire” as its western boundary. The government filed a general answer putting the allegations contained in the plaintiffs’ petition in issue.
Realizing that the reference to the grant as a boundary in the Antonio Armijo grant papers was not sufficient evidence to establish their claim, the plaintiffs abandoned their claim and failed to appear when the case came up for trial on February 16, 1898. The court proceeded to examine the cause and found that the claim had not been sustained by satisfactory proof. Therefore, it held that the grant was not one which the United States was bound to recognize, rejected the grant, and dismissed the plaintiffs’ petition.[3]
[1] Chavez v. United States, No. 200 (Mss., Records of the Ct. Pvt. L. Cl.).
[2] Archive No. 44 (Mss., Records of A.N.M.).
[3] 3 Journal 370 (Mss., Records of the Ct. Pvt. L. Cl.).
Alamo Grant; J.J. Bowden’s research on land grants;