The dispute captures the parallel yet starkly different stories of the two families, tracing more than a century. Ownership of the tract was passed on through wills and estates over generations on the Korth side and unknowingly carried over on the Eckford side.
An array of pumpjacks operates along Texas State Highway 80 in Karnes County. In the heart of the Eagle Ford Shale, the circumstances surrounding how these acres of scrub and ranchland passed from one family to the other are complex, involving life during a time of overt racism, an insanity trial, a clouded deed of trust and the sale of an estate.A few miles southeast of where a two-lane farm road cuts across Highway 80 lies a sliver of land — 147.
Out on this expanse in the heart of the Eagle Ford Shale, the circumstances surrounding how these acres of scrub and ranchland passed from one family to the other are complex, involving life during a time of overt racism, an insanity trial, a clouded deed of trust and the sale of an estate.
“Have you been contacted by an oil and gas landman recently?” the short announcement asked. It pointed readers to a website where landowners posted the sort of lease offers on the table for those lucky enough to own property within the 26-county swath over the geological formation rich in oil and natural gas.
But as the landman and title lawyers assigned to their property tracked down its ownership, a different family name emerged. An inventory of Fritz Korth’s estate at the time of his death in 1948 noted that he owned only an undivided half interest in the 147.5 acres “known as the Eckford Estate.”A Karnes County resident sits for breakfast inside Taqueria Vallarta.
A century worth of records and deeds linked the land to Louis and Eliza Eckford. They had acquired it in the late 1880s, less than 30 years fromto the Black people enslaved in Texas. Eliza’s half had been sold to Fritz Korth after her death, but Louis had died without a will. Under state law at that time, his share would have been inherited by his nine children and later by their descendants. There were at least 200 at the point ConocoPhillips began tracking them down.
An abstract of title dated Nov. 21, 1889, declares Louis Eckford’s purchase of land from the guardian of Lula Haskins. Much of what is known about the Eckford couple has been passed down through family lore and deduced by piecing together history captured in handwritten documents. Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas TribuneLouis Eckford was born in Texas around 1840. His enslavement appears to be recorded on page 42 of the 1860 census of Karnes County.
“It was mostly [out of] curiosity,” said Quinton Hardaway Jr., who became her widower when she died of cancer in 2016. “Curiosity got hold of her, and that’s when she took it and ran with it.” Louis’ name appeared on the county voter rolls as early as 1867, but the stench of the Civil War still permeated the area where most residents had supported the Confederacy. The Knights of the Golden Circle, a secretive organization that supported the preservation of slavery, had been active in the area with a “castle” in nearby Helena. White residents in the county made the trip to Karnes City to attend minstrel shows.
When Louis died in 1896, his stake in the 147.5 acres passed to their nine children while Eliza retained half. The Eckford descendants today have questions about the loan, doubting Eliza would put the property on the line when it was worth far more than the loan amount. A portion of land bordering Farm to Market Road 627, around where Louis and Eliza Eckford own their property. Credit: Eli Hartman/The Texas TribuneThough the area was first inhabited by indigenous people and later Spanish colonists and Mexican settlers, many of the small towns that dotted early Karnes County were established in the mid- to late 1800s by what are described locally as pioneering families, among them the Korths.
Fritz’s death in 1948 made the front page of the Karnes County News, which called him a “widely known, good and beloved pioneer citizen” and described his funeral as “one of the largest ever held here.” Romeo’s grandchildren, who knew him as Daddy Ome, would later recall summers spent on the ranch, stacking hay bales and eating his dove and quail soup. His daughter Lou Eda, having gone to school in San Antonio and married while in college, would eventually return to help run the ranch, modernizing its operations.
Three months later, the Korth family filed its own lawsuit, trying to establish that it owned the entire 147.5 acres outright. Drilling would begin that year. In their lawsuit, the Korths argued that Eliza Eckford transferred full ownership to Fritz Korth through the 1923 deed of trust used to secure the $300 she borrowed from him, which did not specify that she only owned half. They also claimed full ownership of the land through adverse possession, a complex legal framework under which someone can claim ownership of a property even if it didn’t originally belong to them.
Marks had a modest upbringing; as a child she was bused north from East Austin to what had been a white high school. Her father had been in the military, and her mother worked at a state home for young boys with disabilities. Her grandparents had both graduated from college but could not get teaching jobs because of their race. Instead, her grandfatherat premier Austin hotels.
The two families sat on slatted benches on opposite ends of the courtroom. A few shared one bench in the middle. Behind the Eckfords hung portraits of former county judges, including some who appeared to be ancestors of T. D. Ruckman, the banker who had administered Eliza Eckford’s estate and whose name would echo through the courtroom during the five-day trial.
Several hours were filled replaying video depositions of the Korth sisters, the landman hired by Burlington and a title attorney, who reiterated that the Eckford children held on to their half interest in the 147.5 acres because Eliza could not have sold to Fritz Korth what did not belong to her. Where the Korths had a long and dedicated connection to the ranch, the Eckfords’ presence in the courtroom was subtly framed as the living legacy left behind by Louis and Eliza, who had survived slavery and whose descendants had survived the Jim Crow era.
During closing arguments, Marks had composed herself as she spoke of the importance of considering the people behind the events in question to figure out “why they did what they did or didn’t do.” Even if the Eckfords were once co-tenants, Morales said, the Korths had ousted them from the land over the more than seven decades they had been in possession, legally earning the property.
The jury faced multiple questions regarding the Korths’ claim that they owned the land in its entirety, including whether the Korths had acquired a presumption of deed, whether they had adversely possessed the land and whether they had acquired full title to the land. The room collectively held its breath as the jury answered “no” to each question.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
Similar News:Vous pouvez également lire des articles d'actualité similaires à celui-ci que nous avons collectés auprès d'autres sources d'information.
Charlie McNichol, Mobile County 911 director, arrested for DUI in Baldwin CountyMcNichol was found behind the wheel of his Mobile County issued vehicle
Lire la suite »
Suspect convicted of murdering beloved Red Cross worker gunned down in St. Clair County garageA jury found 22-year-old Andray LaQuarn Pope Jr. guilty of murder in the 2021, slaying of 67-year-old Brian Shaw at his Odenville home.
Lire la suite »
Not time to worry, but Hudson County medical community keeping eye on rising COVID-19 casesThe weekly COVID-19 cases for the past two weeks have been the highest since late March.
Lire la suite »
WATCH LIVE: Bexar County DA issues statement regarding police shooting suspectBexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales will issue a statement Friday on the status of criminal cases regarding Jesse Garcia, who is charged in the shooting of two San Antonio Police officers.
Lire la suite »