DESCRIPTION: A rare artifact from Houston, Texas. This manuscript ink cadastral map shows the subdivisions of one-third of a league originally granted to William Perkinson, located on the north side of Buffalo Bayou, several miles west of Houston, Texas. On translucent "tracing cloth", the artifact dates ca. 1890 and was a master copy to be used for reproducing the map via blueprinting. The map identifies property owners including Settegast, Hillendahl, Harden, Bauer, and Williams, along with Turkey Creek and Cedar Island, the former a tributary of Buffalo Bayou. The tract layout includes railroad lands and State School Lands, indicating later 19th-century subdivisions.
The Settegast and Hillendahl families were among the earliest German settlers in the Spring Branch area near Houston. By 1848, members of these families organized one of the first Lutheran services for what became St. Peter Church in Spring Branch. Today, the area depicted lies near the Memorial neighborhood of Houston, where Turkey Creek joins Buffalo Bayou, approximately a mile south of Interstate 10 and North Eldridge Parkway.
Surveyor’s note at lower margin reads: “Map of the subdivisions of 1/3 of a league originally granted to Wm. Perkinson situated on the North side of Buffalo Bayou about ___ miles westwardly from the City of Houston.”
Verso is inscribed with the surveyor’s catalog number “311.”
The illustration and quotation on this trade card were not unique to John Cosgrove but rather part of a stock design widely used by 19th-century printers who specialized in producing humorous or sentimental advertising cards. Lithographers commonly kept catalogs of ready-made comic scenes—like this seaside mother-and-child vignette with the line “It’s a wise child that knows its own mother at the sea side”—which merchants could customize by adding their own business imprint below. In this case, the printer simply inserted Cosgrove’s name, trade description, and Poydras Market address into the blank advertising panel at the bottom, allowing a small New Orleans fish dealer to benefit from professionally printed imagery at a fraction of the cost of commissioning original artwork.
PUBLICATION DATE: 1890
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: United States
BODY OF WATER: Buffalo Bayou
CONDITION:
Good.
COLORING: The Settegast and Hillendahl tracts show faint red color on the verso.
ENGRAVER:
SIZE: 7
" x
12 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION:
PRICE: $650
ADD TO CART
|