The Dallas, Texas office of the J. B. Watkins Land Mortgage Company was opened in 1881. It was managed by Miles J. Dart until 1895 when Watkins closed the office and turned management of company affairs over to local agents. These materials reflect, in daily detail, the farm mortgage and land management business in Texas, particularly after 1884 when Watkins considered the Kansas business "played out" and intensified the mortgage effort to the South. Most of the correspondence is with individual mortgagees, lawyers, bankers, land agents and county officials. There is correspondence to a lesser degree, with the Lawrence and New York offices of the company.

The Dallas office series contains "incoming" materials dating from 1882 to 1896. These papers, correspondence, and financial reports are arranged in chronological order. The series also contains office statements, statements of receivers, and miscellaneous bills, receipts, and statements.

These materials best represent the field work of the J. B. Watkins Land Mortgage Company in the day-to-day business of mortgaging, collections, foreclosure, and sale of lands in Texas. Elizabeth M. Watkins and the company owned large tracts of land in Texas well into the 1930s.