Landrum House
San Benito, Cameron County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This house stands on the 1781 Concepcion de Carricitos grant from the king of Spain to Eugenio and Bartolome Fernandez. Acquiring a part of the grant as fee for his legal services to the heirs, col. Stephen Powers of Brownsville gave the site to his daughter Frances and her husband, James Lambert Landrum. The landrums, who completed the house in 1902, had daughters: Martha, Pauline and Frances. In 1978 Frances owns and lives in the house.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This house stands on the Concepción de Carricitos grant, land deeded by the king of Spain in 1781 to Eugenio and Bartolomé Fernández — a reminder of the Spanish colonial roots of the lower Rio Grande valley. Brownsville attorney Col. Stephen Powers acquired part of the grant as a legal fee and gave the site to his daughter Frances and her husband James Lambert Landrum, who completed the home in 1902. Generations of the Landrum family lived here, tying a modern residence to a land title nearly two centuries old.
Why it matters
The Landrum House bridges eras of the borderlands, linking an eighteenth-century Spanish land grant to the American families who later made the valley their home.
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Related people
- · Stephen Powers
- · James Lambert Landrum
- · Frances Landrum
Themes & tags
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