William and Maria Colwell were well into their lives when they left Tennessee for Texas. They arrived in the Mexican owned state in 1835. The Mexican government had given William Colwell one-fourth of a league on the Atoyac River on September 25, 1835. Number 480, and it was surveyed by William McFarland. William Colwell sold that land two years later and received a more generous grant from the Republic of Texas, a league and labor in Wise County. They were not happy there and soon returned and settled in the Zavalla area (Angelina Co.), where many of the descendants still live. On October 12, 1858, the Colwell children sold land in Wise County (3000 acres, Certificate Number 1674-2775) for seven hundred dollars to F. W. Lord and his wife, S. R. Lord. (Summarized from Joan M. Bartay's web site [http://home.flash.net/~jmbartay])
