Biographical Encyclopedia of Texas Page: 7 of 372
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ENCYCLOPEDIA.
5
meantime prepare the way for the introduction of
-colonists by water via New Orleans. After a very
fatiguinga aind hazardous journey throughli an entire
wilderness of country from Sabine to San Antonio,
hlie reached the latter place in the month of November
anid presented his application to Governor Martinez.
Governor Martinez had received orders from
the Spanish commanding general at -Monterey not
to permit North Americans to enter Texas.
Moses Austin was ordered to leave at once, and
but for his meeting Baron de Bastrop, whom he had
known in the United States, would hiave been conimpelled
to have obeyed the order. Bastrop invited
him to his lhouse, and induced the Governor to give
him a hearing, the result of which was, that the
(I Governor became interested in Austin, and granted
his request-to recommend to the commanding
general, Arredondo, his application to colonize'three
hundred families. Governor Martinez said to Austin,
(' If you live to return, you may count on my assist.ance
in every way that duty and circumstances will
permit." On Austin's' return fromi San Antonio he
was robbed and deserted by those in whose company
he had been traveling, and was exposed to
great suffering before he reached a hospitable roof
on the Louisiana side of the Sabine, where he was
confined by severe sickness for three weeks, his
weak condition required him to rest at Natchitoches.
Here he partially recovered - writing his son
-Stephen what had transpired-and retirned to Missouri
where it was not long before he heard from
Governor Martinez of the success of his application
which was approved by the Spanish authorities on
the 17th of December. He set to work to close iup
his affairs with the Bank of St. Louis, but here he
was in,thle hands of merciless men who demanded
the pound of flesh. H-e finally closed up his business
.is best hlie could and was nearly ready to leave for
Texas, when he was prostrated by the lingering
sickness that had clung to him since hIis return. It
was written in the book of God's Providence, that
the brave old man should be spared the trials and
.sufferings incident to the further prosecution of such
an enterprise as he had conceived. He was taken
to his bed about the 1st of June, at thdie house of
his daughter, Mrs. James Bryan, sinca so well
known in Texas as Mrs. Jamies F. Perry. Hie died
in the arms of his wife and daughter on th 10th day
,of June, 1821, in thle fifty-seventh year of his age.
The family of Moses Austin consisted, at the tiiiie of
his death, of his wife, who survived him about three
years, of his daughter,. 3Mrs. Bryan, of his son,
Stephen F., who was then in New Orleans, and of a
.younger son, James Brown Austin, who was then atschool in Kentucky, and who was afterward well
known in Texas. When on his death bed, Moses
Austin declared it his earnest desire that his son
Stephen should carry forward the enterprise of
colonization.
With a hope of meeting his father on his return
from San Antonio, Stephen F. Austin on the 1st
of February had gone from New Orleans to Natchitoches,
he arrived there after the father had left.
He met there several persons who had agreed to go
with his father to Texas on his return; from these,
and his fathers letters to himn he learned the particulars
of his trip to and froim San Antonio and his
future plans. He returned to New Orleans to await
intelligence fri-om his father. In the meantime in
the law office of his friend Hawkins hlie assiduously
devoted himself to increase his legal knowledge. In
the month of June he heard from a friend in Natchiitoches
of the arrival there of Don Erasmo Seguin,
the commissioner sent by Governor Martinez to imeet
Moses Austin and to conduct him into the province
of Texas. Stephen Austin deemed it best to hasten
to Natehitoches to imeet the commissioner fearinghis
fathbr's delay. He again left New Orleans on the
18th of June for Natchitoches, by the way of Red
river. Not hearing from his father, hie decided after
some delay to leave with the commissioner for Texas.
Before he reached the Sabine lie learned of -the
arrival of letters for him at Natchitoches, aind returning
was informed by them of the death of his
father. He was now in the twenty-eiglhth year of
his age. He felt tthat the hopes of the family were
centered on him. He resolved to accept the trust
that his father in his dying moments had bequeathed
to him and to make for his dear and aged
mother, a new home, under a milder sun, where, if
she could not forget tihe pleasant years spent at the
old hall at Polosi, she miight at least enjoy at the
hands of an affectionato andi dutiful son, those
comforts and observances with which it was once
the pride of a tender husband to surround her.
The Commissionei Segu'n and his companion,
Don Juan Martin de Yderaimendi received Austin
kindly and said to him that hie wouldi be received as
the successor of his father. In company with Don
Erasmo 'Seguin and his escort, with his followers,
consisting of fourteen colonists, hlie crossed the
Sabine into Texas on the 10th day of July, 1821. The
pmaity reached the Guadalupe on the 10th day of August,
when Seguinii sent three of his men to inform
his family of his coming. On the morning of the
12th, these men returned and imparted the stirring
news of the Declaration of Mexican Independence.
On Austin's arrival at San Antonio he was welcomed(
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Biographical Encyclopedia of Texas (Book)
Biographical view of Texas and its history including narratives of the individuals who helped shape Texas history and information about important point in history including: the pioneer days of Texas, Texas' transition from a Mexican state to being part of the United States, and the wars in which Texas citizens took part.
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Biographical Encyclopedia of Texas, book, 1880; New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth5827/m1/7/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.