Stephen F. Austin or Stephen Fuller Austin (born on November 3, 1793, and died on December 27, 1836,) was an American businessman born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri. Known as the Father of Texas, he brought hundreds of families from the United States to the region (1825).
He worked with the Mexican government to support immigration from the United States. Many places and institutions have been named after him, as the capital of Texas, Austin in Travis County, the County Austin, Austin Bayou, Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Austin College in Sherman, and a good number of colleges.
Quick Facts: Stephen F. Austin
- Known for: Key role in the US colonization of Texas and its successor to Mexico
- Born: November 3, 1793, in Virginia
- Parents: Moses Austin and Mary Brown Austin
- Died: December 27, 1836, in Austin Texas
- Education: Bacon Academy, Transilvania University
- Spouse: None
- Children: none
Initially, Austin was a hard-working tool for Mexico, but later he became a savage fighter for Texas independence and is remembered in Texas today as one of the state’s main founding fathers.
The Early Life of Stephen F. Austin
Stephen F. Austin was born on November 3, 1793, in the southwestern mining region of Virginia, in Wythe County. He is the second child of Moses Austin and Mary Brown, who first had a daughter named Eliza, who died early. June 8, 1798, when he was only four years old, his family settled in present-day Missouri, a region which then depended on the Spanish crown.
After the sale of Louisiana to the United States, Stephen Austin’s father asked for the creation of a county in Washington; he also claims that the city he created Potosi become its chief town. At the age of 11, Stephen Austin was sent to study at Bacon Academy in Connecticut and then at Transylvania University in Lexington, where he graduated in 1810.
He trained as a lawyer and then entered the assembly of the Missouri territory at the age of 21. He then used his political influence to found the Bank of Saint Louis but found himself ruined after the banking crisis of 1819. He then decides to leave for the territory of Arkansas.
There, he acquired a property on the south bank of the Arkansas (river) in the area of present-day Little Rock. In 1820 he returned to Louisiana: he met Joseph H. Hawkins in New Orleans.
Settlement of Texas
Stephen Austin’s planned settlement of Texas met many pitfalls between 1821 and 1830, not least of which was the fact that Mexico had independence in 1821, meaning he had to renegotiate his father’s grant. Emperor Iturbide of Mexico came and went, causing confusion.
Attacks from Indian tribes like the Comanche have been a constant problem, and Austin has almost gone bust to meet his obligations. Still, he persisted, and by 1830 he was responsible for a thriving colony of settlers, almost all of whom had Mexican citizenship and converted to Catholicism.
Although Austin remained staunchly pro-Mexican, Texas itself became more and more Americans in nature. In 1830 or so, especially Anglo-American settlers outnumbered Mexicans in the Texas area by nearly 10 to 1.
The rich country not only drew legitimate settlers like those in the Austin colony but also squatters and other unauthorized settlers who simply moved in one piece Country selected and a homestead set up.
Austin’s colony was the main settlement, however, and the families there had started raising cotton, mouth, and other export goods, many of which went through New Orleans. These differences and others have convinced many that Texas should leave Mexico and become part of the United States or independent.
Relations with Mexico
The application of immigration controls and new taxes sparked protests by settlers that culminated in the Anahuac riots. Austin became involved in Mexican politics, supporting upstart Santa Anna. After the success of Santa Anna, the settlers, at the 1832 Convention, demanded the resumption of immigration, exemption from fees, the separation of Coahuila, and a new government of the state of Texas.
Austin does not support these demands; He considered them out of place and worked to moderate them. When they were repeated and demanded in the Convention of 1833, Austin traveled to Mexico City on July 18, 1833, and met with Vice President Valentín Gómez Farías.
He managed to lift the immigration ban but not the state government itself since it required a minimum population of 80,000 and Texas had 30,000. Austin was detained by the Mexican government in January 1834 in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico, on the belief that he was working for Texas independence, and was suspected of trying to incite the insurrection.
He was transferred to Mexico City and imprisoned. No charges were filed against him because the courts of Mexico were not competent. He was transferred from one prison to another and finally released on bail in December 1834 and forced to remain in the Federal District.
He was completely free with the general amnesty of July 1835 and in August 1835 he left Mexico to return to Texas via New Orleans.
The Texas Revolt and Independence
In his absence, a series of events propelled the settlers into a confrontation with the centralist government of Santa Anna. Austin took temporary command of the Texas forces during the Siege of Béjar from October 12 to December 11, 1835. After learning from the riots at Anahuac and Velasco in the summer of 1835, an enraged Santa Anna quickly prepared the army.
Mexican to sweep Anglo-American settlers from Texas. The war began in October 1835 at Gonzales. The Republic of Texas, created by the new constitution of March 2, 1836, gained independence after a series of defeats and a dramatic victory at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, and the capture of Santa Anna the next morning and his imprisonment.
In December 1835, Austin, Rama Archer, and William H. Wharton were appointed commissioners to the United States. by the provisional government of the Republic. On June 10, 1836, Austin was in New Orleans, where he received news of Santa Anna’s defeat by Sam Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto.
Austin returned to Texas to rest at Peach Point in August. On August 4, he announced his candidacy for the Texas presidency. Austin was confident that he could win the election until two weeks before the election, when Houston entered the race on August 20.
Austin wrote: “Many of the former settlers are too blind to see or understand his interest and will vote for him.” Houston took east Texas, the Red River region, and most of the soldiers’ votes. Sam Houston got 5,119 votes. Houston appointed him First Secretary of State of the new republic, a position that lasts only two months.
Stephen F. Austin Death
In December 1836, Austin was in the new capital of Columbia (now West Columbia) where he caught a bad cold; his condition worsened. The doctors were unable to help him. Austin died of pneumonia at noon on December 27, 1836.
It was at the George B. McKinstry home near what is now West Columbia, Texas. He was 43 years old. Austin was buried at the Gulf Prairie Cemetery in Brazoria County, Texas. In 1910 the remains of Austin were taken to the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.
Austin never married, nor had children. He bequeathed all of his land, titles, and possessions to his married sister, Emily Austin Perry.