"... of the land known as the Republic of Texas"

Inhabiting the land, as opposed to owning the land, is actually more politically correct if it's to the relationship one is referring. One may have a deed to the land but owning it is not exactly a relation, it is the possession of a deed which implies a particular boundary of the land upon which one occupies and what one does with or to the land while occupying said land; it may be referred to as dwelling upon, domiciled on, residing upon, and other such terminology that defines why one stays and passes the deed on to one's heirs. Legal terminology in earlier years refer to this apparent "owning the land" as being a freeholder, inferring that the land itself does not belong to anyone but the Maker of all things. 

Now, with that being said, we may continue with the progress of civilization and expansion of a realm by defining certain boundaries and demarcations. Particular reference given to the land known as the republic of Texas during which time the land grants issued by the Mexican authorities to the colonists and settlers coming into the land from the north, east, and by way of the gulf of Mexico as well the grants issued by the nation Spain previously, and while on the subject of dwelling upon the land, let's not forget those indiginous peoples of ages beforehand of whom were persecuted merely for being there first by those who came after and who never referred to themselves as owning the land.

By 1840 the land had been divided into geographic regions denoted as grants and now further divided into counties. From the Louisiana border of the united States, there were the counties of Red River in the north and also bordering the Ozark district of Arkansas, and traveling to the south the counties of Harrison, Shelby, Sabine and San Augustine, Jasper, and Jefferson which was ported by the Sabine inlet and Sabine Lake and beached by the gulf of Mexico. Located west along the gulf were the counties of Liberty, Harris, and Galveston ported by the Galveston Bay. Brazoria county may have been ported by Galveston bay via the Clear creek, but whether it had a port is a matter of further study. Moving westward from Brazoria county are Matagorda, Jackson, and Victoria counties protected by the Matagorda Bay with its Passa Cavalla and the Mala pass, navigating the gulf west by southwest from Victoria is Refugio county ported by Aransas Bay and protected by St. Joseph's Island, and to the south is San Patricio county protected by Padre Island and Braso Santiago and ported by the Rio Bravo of which is the southern boundary and access to inland routes by way of Matamoros, Rhinoso, Mier, and Laredo which borders Bexar county. Navigating the Rio Bravo northwesterly Bexar county is accessed by inland route at Presidio de Rio Grande, at the southeast corner of Bexar county and moving eastward are Goliad and Gonzales counties, Colorado and La Fayette counties, Fort Bend and Navasoto counties, Harris and Montgomery counties, and Liberty county, which bordering on the north are San Augustine, Nacogdoches, and Houston counties, which are bordered on the west by Robertson. Traveling again westward is Milam extending northwest into the prairies of Cameron's grant and westward into Woodbury & Companies grant and Comanche indians land. These are subdivisions of the land as denoted on Gen'l Austin's Map of Texas 1840 and published by H. D. Tanner, Philidelphia.