Part 4, Note 5
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Colorado County Deed Records, Book D, p. 214, Book E, pp. 88, 274, 313-318,
382, 383, 491, Book F, pp. 194, 372, Book G, p. 172; Tax Rolls of Colorado
County, 1846, or, for some of the slaveholders mentioned above, Bill Stein, ed.,
"The Slave Narratives of Colorado County," Nesbitt Memorial Library
Journal, vol. 3, no. 1, January 1993, p. 30. McNeill had come to Texas from
Adams County, Mississippi, in 1835 with his friend of ten years, James Bowie
(see Colorado County District Court Records, Civil Cause File No. 2111: M. A.
Veramendi, et al. v. W. J. Hutchins, et al.). He was, apparently, already a
wealthy man. Though it seems unlikely that he was able to generate significant
income in revolutionary Texas, he still had enough money to, in December 1837,
through a series of transactions, purchase a ten percent interest in all the
remaining unsold lots in the newly-created city of Houston (see Harris County
Deed Records, Book A, pp. 229-231, 441, 460).
Because of two odd transactions, the meanings of which are unclear, it seems
that Herbert's slaves actually were owned by his wife, Mary. On June 27, 1844,
Herbert conveyed 38 slaves to Henry R. W. Hill of New Orleans. Four months
later, on October 30, 1844, Hill conveyed the same 38 slaves to Mary Herbert
(see Colorado County Bond and Mortgage Records, Book C, pp. 99, 113).