The 88 Ranch has passed down by inheritance from the original Mexican Land Grant that was issued in March 1833 to Robert Cunningham as part of Stephen F. Austin’s second group of colonists, a period of continuous ownership that stretches for 193 years. Such continuity is quite unusual. The Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas authorized the original title in triplicate with the grantee receiving one copy, the land office another copy, and the state of Coahuila y Tejas retaining a copy. The original land grant in the display case is courteous of the General Land Office, which its next door to the Bob Bullock Museum. We lent our family copy of the land grant certificate to a display in Columbus during the Sesquicentennial Celebration of Columbus in 1975. Unfortunately it was stolen and we have never been able to discover its whereabouts. We do, however, have a photocopy of the original. The family still owns roughly one-quarter of the original league of 4,428 acres. Robert Cunningham died at the Alamo, the only person from the Western District to do so. Cunningham’s widow, daughter and descendants are buried on the ranch cemetery. His widow, Louise Hunt Cunningham, was the daughter of Captain Hunt who was a veteran of the War of 1812 and also the 1835 Battle of Bexar, the opening battle of the Texas Revolution. She subsequently married Basil Ijams, a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto. Both are also buried at the family cemetery on the ranch. Lots of history in our cemetery! I recently took my grandson, Charlie Kearney, who is named for his great-grandfather (shown on the left in the picture featured in the display). May the tradition continue!
jamesckearney.com 