Preemption grants were a type of land grant used by the Republic, and later the state of Texas in various ways from 1845 to 1856, and again from 1866 to 1898. Similar to the United States Preemption Act of 1841,[1] Texas’ preemption grants allowed settlers to claim land on the vacant public domain of Texas and provided a process by which they could title the land once established criteria were met.

Preemption grants functioned similarly to homestead grants, and both are filed in the same manner at the GLO. Some preemption files also appear as third-class headrights in GLO files. The preemption grant entitled someone to settle upon vacant public lands and have the first option to purchase that land when it comes on the market for sale. The first preemption act in Texas was passed by the Republic on January 22, 1845.[2] It allowed for the settlement of 320 acres of vacant public land. To claim title to settled land, one must live on the land for at least three years, make improvements to the land, and pay fees to the government at the rate of $2.00 per acre in depreciated evidences of debt of the Republic, or $0.50 per acre in par funds. Lands involved in preemption were not available to be claimed or surveyed except by those who were living on them. Improvements to the land included projects such as construction of homes or other structures, digging wells or irrigation systems, or cultivating crops.

An act was approved February 7, 1853 which altered the preemption system such that those who had settled lands under the previous act were no longer required to cover their grant with a valid certificate. Therefore, the land became a homestead grant, with occupancy being the sole requirement. An 1854 act reduced the amount of land that could be claimed under preemption or homestead grants from 320 acres to 160 acres, and the preemption act was repealed in 1856. It resumed in 1866 and remained in effect until 1898, at which point the vacant public domain was declared exhausted.[3] It is believed that 4,847,136 acres of land were disposed of by means of preemption grants in Texas, which accounts for about 3.2% of the total land disposed of by Texas.[4]