Summary / Overview

Excerpt from the book, Helotes, Where the Texas Hill Country Begins, by Cynthia Leal Massey, 3rd edition, published 2020. Used with permission by the author.

Few women owned property in their own right in the nineteenth century. However, by 1881, Caroline Hoffmann owned more than 4,000 acres, including horses and cattle, in her own right. By 1890, Caroline and her husband, Jacob, had amassed more than 7,500 acres. By 1908, five years after Jacob’s death, the Hoffmann estate included 12,667 acres, a substantial portion in present day Government Canyon State Natural Area.

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