Stephen F. Austin: Reluctant Father of Texas
Stephen Fuller Austin (1793-1836) has been known, since shortly after his death, as the "Father of Texas," as he was not only the first to lead Anglo-American settlers to the region and establish colonies but also endured the hardships of organizing these settlements and their laws, mandating socially acceptable behavior, and serving as liaison between colonists and the Mexican government.
Austin shouldered all these responsibilities himself, often at great personal cost, but, initially, he had no intention of engaging in any of them or anything having to do with settlements in the region of Coahuila y Tejas (Texas), the northern district of New Spain (Mexico) until 1821.
Austin's father, Moses Austin, had been granted permission by the Spanish government to bring Anglo-American settlers to Texas when the region was still under Spanish control. Moses died in 1821, the same year Mexico won its independence from Spain, and his dying wish was that his son would complete his work.
Stephen F. Austin planned on becoming a lawyer and had already been a popular politician when his father died. That event changed the course of his life, and so he may rightly be called the "Reluctant Father of Texas."
Early Years
Stephen F. Austin was born in Virginia on 3 November 1793 to Moses Austin and Mary Brown Austin and had one sister, Emily. In 1798, the family moved to the region that would become Potosi, Missouri but was then a northern region of Spanish Louisiana. In order to live there and set up a business, Moses had to petition the Spanish government for permission, which was granted after he became a Spanish citizen, marking Moses Austin's first interaction with Spanish officials.
Part of the deal he made with these officials was that he would bring more Anglo-American settlers to the region, and these, through established business, would form successful communities and a firm tax base in a region that, at the time, was largely wilderness. Moses met these obligations, opened a lead-smelting business, and engaged in slave trading as he used enslaved Africans and Native Americans daily in his mines.
In 1803, after the Louisiana Purchase, the region became part of the United States, and Moses was instrumental in establishing the Bank of St. Louis in addition to running his lead-smelting business, the mines, and operating a general store. He was doing well financially and was able to afford the best education for his son.
In 1804, when Stephen Austin was eleven, he was sent east to school at the Bacon Academy of Colchester, Connecticut, and, from there, went on to study at Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, graduating in 1810 at the age of 17 and then returning home.
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⇒ Stephen F. Austin: Reluctant Father of Texas
