FISHER-MILLER LAND GRANT. The Fisher-Miller Land Grant, made by the Republic of Texas^qv on June 7, 1842, and renewed on September 1, 1843, resulted from a petition made by Henry Francis Fisher, Burchard Miller, and Joseph Bakerq^qv on February 8, 1842, to be permitted to settle 1,000 immigrant families of German, Dutch, Swiss, Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian ancestry in Texas under the auspices of the San Saba Colonization Company. The grant included more than three million acres between the Llano and Colorado rivers. The original contract allowed the introduction of 600 families and single men. Fisher and Miller did not succeed in colonizing the grant within the allotted time and took advantage of a legislative amendment passed on January 6, 1844, which extended the deadline. The amendment also increased the number of settlers to 6,000 families and single men. After seeking and obtaining the title of Texas consul to Bremen, Fisher went to Germany to promote colonization. On June 26, 1844, he sold an interest in the contract to the Adelsverein^qv (the Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas). On December 30, 1845, Fisher and Miller sold their rights in the grant to the society. As a stipulation of the sale Fisher was appointed to the society's colonial committee. Along with the rights to the grant, the society had the responsibility to settle the area and take over any expenses accrued by the San Saba Colonization Company. The grant actually received few colonists from the society, which made only five small settlements; of the five, only Castell survived. Many of the settlers moved to New Braunfels or Fredericksburg and subsequently sold the grants they had received in the Fisher-Miller tract.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rudolph L. Biesele, The History of the German Settlements in Texas, 1831-1861 (Austin: Von Boeckmann-Jones, 1930; rpt. 1964). Solon Ollie Loving, A History of the Fisher-Miller Land Grant from 1842-1860 (M.A. thesis, University of Texas, 1934).

Rudolph L. Biesele