Have you traced what happened to the Garcia land grant? I'd be interested in comparing the fate of the Garcia's land grant with that of the Chavanas.
The Chavana family had three Spanish land grants: one in Nacogdoches (the father Ramon); one in Angelina county (son Antonio) and one in Hardin county (son Faustino). Part of the father's grant and both the sons grants were sold to land speculators soon after the Texas Revolution. More than half of the remaining land for the father was sold soon after his death about 1842. The last of Ramon's sons (Fermin) was involved in a boundary dispute involving this land in the late 1850s; he was found near Eagle Pass in the 1860 census but was back in Nacogdoches in the 1880 census. Then the Chavana surname disappeared from Texas and Louisiana until far relations started to cross over the Rio Grande at the beginning of the 20th century.
Have you found the line back from Simon Garcia and how did you find he was born in Nacogdoches in 1768? I have been unable to trace the family of Ramon Chavana's wife, Juan Jose Sanchez and Barbara Cordova, because most of the records for Adaes have been lost.
Janet K

Sounds like the oil companies took over where the land speculators left off with the land owners getting the worst of the deal. The Nacogdoches airport sits on the Chavana land now. Wonder if anyone has written about the fate of Spanish land grants in East Texas? I know the heirs of Spanish land grants on Padre Island just lost a lawsuit in the Texas supreme court but then no one wanted that stretch of sand until fairly recently.

I haven't seen the map of Faustino's grant but I did find Ramon's in Nacogdoches on the TexasTides website. I took it and placed it over a google map of the modern area and the boundaries were very easy to see even today. I was in Lufkin for the Angelina Conference a few weeks ago and took the opportunity to go out to Ramon's land and take pictures for a far cousin. From the road there seems to be nothing but trees and a very narrow road going through them but inside there were houses and even a church with a cemetery! The history of the area is absolutely fascinating but doesn't seem very well known.