Stephen F. Austin: The Son Becomes Father of Texas (Texas Heroes For Young Readers)
(The heroic life of Stephen F. Austin, the Father of Texas...)
The heroic life of Stephen F. Austin, the Father of Texas, is vividly portrayed in this biography that describes how a gentle man finished the work of his father and helped found an independent Texas. Detailing how Austin inherited a grant of land with instructions to form a colony in Spanish-controlled Texas, this biography tells of how Stephen spent the next fifteen years negotiating, cajoling, and eventually taking up arms against the newly independent Mexico to help found the Republic of Texas. Austin's patience, courage, and character are celebrated throughout this resource for young readers. A directory of web links, for teachers to employ as potential activities, is also included.
Stephen F. Austin: Empresario of Texas (The Lamar Series in Western History)
(Stephen F. Austin, the Father of Texas, has long been ens...)
Stephen F. Austin, the Father of Texas, has long been enshrined as an authentic American hero. This biography brings his private life, motives, personality and character into sharp focus, revealing a driven man who successfully mixed effort and cunning, idealism and pragmatism.
The Life of Stephen F. Austin, Founder of Texas, 1793-1836: A Chapter in the Westward Movement of the Anglo-American People (Texas History Paperbacks Series)
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Almost a hundred years after the death of Stephen F. Au...)
Almost a hundred years after the death of Stephen F. Austin this first full-length biography was published. And for almost a quarter of a centurydividing his time between editing, teaching, textbook writing, and serving in various academic capacitiesEugene C. Barker pursued the study which resulted in The Life of Stephen F. Austin. His accomplishment has long been regarded as a fine example of biography in Texas literature.
The American pioneer Stephen Fuller Austin was the chief colonizer of Texas.
With the exception of Utah, no other state so owes its existence to one man.
Background
Stephen F. Austin was born in the mining region of southwestern Virginia (Wythe County) in what is known as Austinville today, some 256 miles (412 km) southwest of Richmond, Virginia. He was the second child of Moses Austin and Mary Brown Austin; the first, Eliza, lived only one month. On June 8, 1798, when Stephen was four years old, his family moved west to the lead-mining region of present-day Potosi, Missouri, 40 miles west of the Mississippi River. His father Moses Austin received a sitio from the Spanish government for the mining site of Mine à Breton, established by French colonists. His great-great-grandfather Anthony Austin (b. 1636) (son of Richard Austin b. 1598) in Bishopstoke, Hampshire, England, he and his wife Esther were original settlers of Suffield, Massachusetts which became Connecticut in 1749.
Education
He attended Bacon Academy in Connecticut, and Transylvania University in Kentucky.
Career
He was a director of the Bank of St. Louis when his father, Moses Austin, lost his fortune in the 1819 panic.
In August 1820 he moved again, seeking in Louisiana a means of making enough money to repay the family's debts.
In New Orleans he read law and worked on a newspaper. His father died in June 1821, leaving Austin a newly acquired permit to colonize 300 families in Spanish Texas.
After the death of his father, he had obtained a grant of Texas land for colonization purposes from Mexico, Austin set out for Texas by way of Arkansas.
He traveled to Mexico City in 1822-1823 to secure Mexican recognition of the Spanish grant.
This done, he colonized the 300 families, as well as an additional 750 families under subsequent contracts.
He also organized the Texan defenses against the Indians.
In 1833 he journeyed to Mexico City to represent the Texan desire for separate statehood.
He was arrested on charges of sedition and imprisoned, but never tried.
Released in 1835, he returned to Texas, where he joined the faction fighting the dictatorship of Antonio López de Santa Ana.
At the outbreak of the fighting, he became commander in chief of the Texan military forces, but in November 1835 he was sent to the United States to seek assistance and, later, recognition of independence.
At the end of the Texas revolution, he reluctantly ran for president of the new republic against the hero of the war, Samuel Houston.
Achievements
Known as the "Father of Texas", and the founder of Texas, he led the second, and ultimately successful, colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States to the region in 1825.
In addition, he worked with the Mexican government to support emigration from the United States.
He was also granted Mexican nationality when settling Texas.
The overthrow of the Spanish regime in Mexico and the new requirements for settlers made it necessary for him to go to Mexico City to have his grant confirmed. Numerous places and institutions are named in his honor, including the capital of Texas, Austin in Travis County, Austin County, Austin Bayou, Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Austin College in Sherman, and a number of K-12 schools.
His statue in the national capitol was placed there by grateful citizens of the Lone Star State.
