When the Map Changed but the Land Did Not: Spanish and Mexican Land Grants in the American West
Image: Map of Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico, showing the relative locations of principal land grants, c. 1870s. Witherby and Company; Denver Public Library/Plains to Peaks Collective. Public domain.
When the United States took control of the Southwest, families who had occupied their land for generations suddenly had to prove their rights under a new government, language, and legal system. Discover the real history behind Tony Montoya’s fight to protect his family’s Spanish land grant in The Once-Forbidden Bride.
The Rights of Married Women the Late 19th Century U.S. — Part 2
Could a husband control where his wife lived, worked, or traveled in the 1800s? Explore coverture, marital authority, asylums, and women’s freedom.
The Rights of Married Women in the Late 19th Century U.S. — Part 1
In the nineteenth century, marriage transformed a woman’s legal and financial identity. By the 1870s, limited reform was underway, but the difference between owning property and controlling it could be enormous. Read about the practical implications of the legal doctrine of coverture and the rights of married women in the late 19th century.
