Texas Almanac, 1939-1940 Page: 61
[514] p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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HISTORY OF TEXAS. 61
by only three outposts of civilization-
San Antonio, Goliad and Nacogdoches.
The promising start that had been made
by the missions had been partly lost dur-
ing the period of stagnation between
1793 and 1821. The population did not
exceed 7,000 white people. There had
been a general backsliding among the
Christian Indians and the white popula-
tion itself was an unstable element.
The seat of government at San An-
tonio was far removed from Mexico
City, and because, of the slow means of
communication, the Governor there was
never sure that the regime under which
he had received his commssion had not
been overthrown. There was an infil-
tration of Anglo-Americans across the
eastern border but these, until the com-
ing of Austin's colony, were largely of
the freebooter type. On the eastern bor-
der lay a "neutral ground" harboring
adventurers and serving as headquarters
for filibuster expeditions into the prov-
ince. The wide expanse of Texas itself
was little better than a "no man's
land."
At this point the destiny of Texas piv-
ots on the decision of a single man.
Moses Austin of Missouri, native of Con-
necticut who had been interested in lead
mining in Virginia and Missouri, came
upon hard times and decided to cast his
lot with Texas.
Austin traveled from his home in Mis-
souri in 1820 to San Antonio to seek
permission to establish a colony of Amer-
icans in Texas. Austin was a former
Virginian, who had been interested in
lead mining, removing to Missouri, which
was then subject to Spain, in 1799, to
open a lead mining enterprise in that
territory.
At San Antonio, through the interces-
sion of Baron de Bastrop, he was per-
mitted to file a formal application with
the Viceroy of Mexico. He returned to
Missouri overland, dying from hardships
suffered during the trip soon after reach-
ing his home, but his dying, request was
that his son, Stephen F. Austin, carry out
his plans for establishing the Texas col-
ony, the father having received word just
before his death that his request of the
Spanish Government had been granted.
Austin's Colony.
The young man was well qualified for
the adventure. A native of Virginia he
had received a college education and had
joined his father in the frontier terri-
tory of Missouri. At the time of his fa-
ther's death he was in New Orleans
studying law. Stephen F. Austin trav-
eled to San Antonio over the upper roadand came to an agreement with Gover-
nor Martinez relative to the establish-
ment of the colony. This was in August,
1821, and Stephen F. Austin was in his
twenty-eighth year. On his return trip
to the United States he made a detour
through the territory lying between the
Colorado and Brazos below the San An-
tonio road and chose this as the site of
his colony.
He had been given permission to set-
tle 300 families and the terms were that
"each head of a family and each single
man would be granted 640 acres with 320
additional acres allowed for a wife and
160 acres for each child and 80 acres for
each slave." Austin was to receive 12%c
an acre from each settler, with which he
was to attend to the details of survey-
ing, perfecting titles and advertising the
enterprise in the United States. First
settlements were made late in 1821 at
Columbus on the Colorado and Wash-
ington-on-the-Brazos.
In the meantime the separation of
Mexico from Spain deprived the project
of legal status and Austin made a hur-
ried trip to Mexico City to close a new
deal with the new central government.
There he found little but confusion. Be-
side the struggle between the adherents
of republican and monarchical forms of
government he found the National Con-
gress deadlocked over establishment of
a general colonization policy. It was
soon after this act was passed, in Janif-
ary, 1823, that he was able to come to a
new agreement which confirmed his
grt.
Empresario System.
Under the new law the government
contracted with empresarios or agents
for the introduction of families. Under
the law the empresario could obtain
grants on contracts for introducing no
fewer than 200 families of colonists. He
was given wide authority over his colo-
nists m the matters of establishing com-
mercial centers, maintenance of militia
and administering justice. It was this
empresario system under which the col-
onization of Texas made extraordinary
strides during the next decade.
Austin's colony grew rapidly and San
Felipe de Austin was laid out on the
Brazos as the seat of government in the
colony.
First 300 Families.
Austin's first grant was for 300 fam-
ilies. This quota-known as "the First
Three Hundred," and having a place in
Texas history somewhat similar to that
of the Jamestown and Plymouth settlers
in United States history, was soon filledRSTNATIONAL BANK
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Texas Almanac, 1939-1940, book, 1939; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117163/m1/63/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.