Stephen F. Austin (1793-1836)
Born
in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri, Stephen Fuller Austin is
considered the founder of Anglo-American Texas. At the age of eleven years, he
attended school in Connecticut and later graduated with distinction from
Transylvania University in Kentucky.
In 1813, at the age of twenty-one years, he was elected
to the territorial Legislature of Missouri, and was reelected to that position
each year until 1819, when he moved to Arkansas. Meanwhile, Stephen's father,
Moses Austin, received a grant of land in Texas for purposes of colonization.
The elder Austin died soon after returning to Missouri
from a trip to Texas, but bequeathed his grant to Stephen with instructions to
carry it to a successful completion. Accordingly, after many delays and
frustrations with the Mexican government, Steven Austin introduced a large
number of colonists from the United States. An unassuming man with a kindly
presence, he was deeply respected by all, and achieved unparalleled influence
over the often unruly settlers in Anglo Texas.
Austin is remembered in Texas history for his many
efforts on behalf of Texas before, during, and immediately after Texas'
Revolution with Mexico. His contributions to Texas included: long and perilous
pilgrimages to Mexico on behalf of Texas; his unwillingness to counsel his
people to take up arms against the Mexican government as long as any hope for
peace remained; his firm and decided voice, speaking words of encouragement and
hope during the darkest days of the revolution; and his laborious travels in the
United States to obtain needed support for his struggling countrymen.
After devoting the best years of his life to the cause
of Texas, Austin was overcome by disease and on 27 December 1836 died an
untimely death at the age of forty-three years