Stephen Fuller Austin
Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(November 3, 1793 - December 37, 1836) Republics often point to one person whose vision and leadership led to their creation. For the Republic of Texas (1836-1845) that person is Stephen Fuller Austin. Austin, the son of Moses and Maria Brown Austin, was born on the Virginia frontier. He attended schools in Kentucky and Connecticut before opting to work in his father's mercantile business in Missouri. He served as a judge in Arkansas prior to moving to New Orleans where he worked at a newspaper and studied law. In 1821 Moses Austin was granted permission by Spain to settle 300 families in Texas. His untimely death while in Louisiana recruiting settlers left the completion of his ambitious project to his son Stephen. Although a series of Mexican leaders subsequently rejected his father's original grant, Austin persevered and successfully lobbied for the grant's continuance. He astutely governed every facet of the original 300 families' settlement in southeast Texas (1821-1825) and those of another 900 families in the area by 1832. Austin was imprisoned in Mexico after requesting separate statehood for Texas in 1833. He returned to Texas in 1835 and helped it gain independence from Mexico. Austin, chosen as the new Republic's first secretary of state, is known as the father of Texas. Stephen F. Austin Bicentennial 1793 - 1993
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Stephen Fuller Austin inherited a colossal task when his father Moses died in 1821: settling hundreds of families in Spanish—then Mexican—Texas. Born on the Virginia frontier and schooled across the young United States, Austin proved a shrewd administrator, guiding the original "Old Three Hundred" families and hundreds more into southeast Texas. Imprisoned in Mexico after pressing for Texas statehood, he returned to help win independence and served as the new Republic's first secretary of state.
Why it matters
Remembered as the "Father of Texas," Austin embodies the American impulse of westward colonization that pulled Texas out of Mexico and toward the United States.
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Related people
- · Stephen Fuller Austin
- · Moses Austin
Related events
- · Republic of Texas
Themes & tags
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