Individual women had obtained grants of land from the Republic of Mexico, male empresarios, and the Republic of Texas.  Only during statehood, 1845 - 1898, women and men could file claims for "homesteads" in Texas.
The Homestead acto of May 20, 1862 allowed a maximu of 160 acres to anyone staking a homestead.  Those who qualified were heads of houseolds or a person over 21 years of age; they had to reside on the land for 5 years, make improvements to the land, and file for a patent of ownership.
Married women who were heads or households and single women qualified under Federal Law.

Texas kept is public lands when it entered the Union in 1845.  According to the Constitution of the Republic of Texas, everyone in Texas on or before the date of March 2, 1836, excluding Indians ad Blacks, who had not refused military service was entitled to land under a First Class Headright; bounty grants were also given to men who had fought in the war for independence and their heirs.

The Texas Homestead Law of 1866 allowed only white settlers that were the head of a family or a pereson 21 years or older to qualifyto file homestead claims.  By 1870 the law stated that "every head of a family and single men over the age of 21 were allowed to claim a homestead in Texas.  The Constitution of 1876 lowered the age for single men to 18 years of age or older.  In 1898 the Texas State Supreme Court ruled that there was no more vacant public land available.

Late 19th century women were bound as strongly by social practice as by statuatory law.  Social etiquett required the woman and older female daughters of the house to perform the household duties and abide by the decisions of the male had of the household  Early Texas census records show that a woman was rarely listed as having an occupation other than "keeping house - KH" even when they appeared on the census as the head of the household.  Some women would not be s0hown with an occupation (usually widows) while a son in his late teens or 20s would have the occupation  of "farmer".