Joseph H. Hawkins
Lake Jackson, Brazoria County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Joseph H. Hawkins Native Virginian Joseph H. Hawkins practiced law in Kentucky, where he served as state legislator and U.S. congressman before moving to New Orleans. There he befriended Stephen F. Austin, who was broke and reluctant to complete his father's colonization plans on his own. Hawkins encouraged him to continue, offering him a job and, later, capital for the project. In 1821, the two men formalized an agreement in which Austin acknowledged receipt of $4,000 and agreed to divide equally the lands he would receive as colonizer, or empresario. Hawkins sent boats of supplies and colonists to meet Austin in Texas but died in 1823, leaving his wife, George Ann (Nicholas), and five children deeply in debt. She returned with the children to her native Kentucky to be near her family and Hawkins' brother, Littleberry. She appointed Nathaniel Cox to help settle her husband's estate. In 1824, the Mexican government gave Austin, as empresario, almost 100,000 acres, but law required a person to reach majority age and live in Texas to own land, so the Hawkins children could not immediately claim their share. Austin worked with Cox to find a suitable agreement and, in 1833, conveyed to the Hawkins heirs some 42,000 acres of land in and around Brazoria county. Each of Hawkins' children lived briefly in Texas. Edmund St. John (d. 1836) was the first, followed by Norbourne, who died at Goliad in 1836, George (d. 1837), and then Joseph Thomas (d. 1850). Mary Jane came in 1839 but, after her husband died, returned to Kentucky, where she stayed. Although none of his heirs persevered in Texas, Hawkins' legacy in Texas is apparent in the success of Austin's first colony and all that sprang from the early Texas settlement. (2002)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Joseph H. Hawkins, a Virginia-born lawyer who served in Kentucky's legislature and Congress, befriended a broke and hesitant Stephen F. Austin in New Orleans. He urged Austin to carry on his late father's colonization plans, offering him work and, in an 1821 agreement, $4,000 in capital in exchange for half the lands Austin would receive as empresario. Hawkins sent boats of supplies and colonists to Texas but died in 1823 deeply in debt; years later Austin conveyed some 42,000 acres to his heirs, though none remained in Texas.
Why it matters
Hawkins's forgotten backing helped make Austin's first colony possible, a reminder of the financiers behind the Anglo-American settlement of Texas.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In 1821 Texas was a thinly settled northern edge of New Spain, and that year it became part of a newly independent Mexico. The government wanted settlers to strengthen the province. It turned to the empresario system, which gave large land grants to agents who agreed to bring in and oversee colonists.
Moses Austin, Stephen's father, had won permission for such a colony shortly before his death in 1821. That left a bold plan without its author and without much money. In those days a colonization venture needed cash: supplies, transport, surveying and the expense of dealing with a distant government.
New Orleans was the natural place to find that support. It was the commercial gateway to the Gulf Coast, full of merchants, lawyers and speculators with an eye on the lands to the west. A great deal of early Anglo-American Texas was financed and planned in its offices before anyone crossed the Sabine.
People & events
Joseph H. Hawkins had already had a full career before Texas entered his life. Born in Virginia, he practiced law in Kentucky, served in its legislature and went to Congress before moving to New Orleans. There he met a young Stephen F. Austin, who was out of money and unsure about carrying out his late father's colonization plan alone.
Hawkins persuaded him to keep going. First he gave Austin a job, and later he supplied capital. In 1821 the two men signed an agreement: Austin acknowledged receiving $4,000 and promised to split equally with Hawkins whatever lands he earned as empresario. Hawkins then sent boats carrying supplies and colonists to meet Austin in Texas.
He did not live to see the result. Hawkins died in 1823 and left his wife, George Ann, and their five children deeply in debt. She took the children back to Kentucky, near her own family and Hawkins's brother Littleberry, and appointed Nathaniel Cox to help settle the estate. When Mexico granted Austin almost 100,000 acres in 1824, the Hawkins children could not claim their share right away, because the law required landowners to be adults living in Texas.
Austin and Cox eventually worked out a settlement, and in 1833 Austin conveyed about 42,000 acres in and around Brazoria County to the Hawkins heirs. Each child spent time in Texas, and the results were sad. Edmund St. John died in 1836. Norbourne died at Goliad that same year, during the Texas Revolution. George died in 1837 and Joseph Thomas in 1850. Mary Jane came in 1839, was widowed and went back to Kentucky. None of the heirs stayed.
Its place in the American story
Stephen F. Austin is often called the Father of Texas, but colonies are rarely the work of one person. Hawkins's story shows the financing behind American expansion. Lawyers, merchants and investors in cities like New Orleans put money into frontier ventures, hoping for land in return, and often took the losses when things went wrong.
His family's experience also shows how fragile those hopes were. A promise of land made in 1821 took twelve years to fulfill. It ran through Mexican colonization law and a debt-burdened estate, and it reached heirs whose time in Texas then ran straight into the upheaval of the Texas Revolution. In that sense Texas land was fought over in courtrooms and contracts as well as on battlefields.
Austin's first colony grew into the Anglo-American settlement that shaped Texas's path toward revolution, independence and eventually statehood, with all the consequences that followed for the United States. The money Hawkins put in at the very start is a small but real part of that larger story.
If you visit
This marker stands in Lake Jackson, in Brazoria County, the same lower Brazos River country where Austin's early colonists settled and where the Hawkins heirs eventually received their land. As you read it, picture this flat, fertile coastal plain as it was in the 1820s and 1830s: open, promising and very hard to live in.
The marker tells its story in contracts and land titles, so take a moment with the dates. The money was handed over in 1821, Hawkins died in 1823 and the land came in 1833. That twelve-year gap is the heart of the story.
Brazoria County is rich in sites from Texas's colonial and revolutionary years, which makes this stop a good part of a Gulf Coast history drive. Combine it with nearby markers and historic sites from Austin's colony to follow the thread from New Orleans investment to Texas independence.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Joseph H. Hawkins
- · Stephen F. Austin
Themes & tags
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