DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Andrew Robinson Senior — remember that name, because everything about the man arrived first. He was the very first settler of Stephen F.
Austin's Old 300 colonists to set foot in Texas. Not second. Not among the early ones.
First. November of 1821, Andrew Robinson came across with his wife Nancy and their two children, and Texas — well, Texas would never quite be the same. Now the Old 300 were the founding stock of Austin's colony, and Robinson was out ahead of all of them.
That tells you something about the man's disposition toward waiting: he didn't have one. By 1824 he had received title to over nine thousand acres of land. Nine thousand acres.
And if that weren't enough, he was made a captain in the colonial militia on top of it. The town of Washington was surveyed right there on his grant, and Andrew Robinson became a co-founder of it. The ground under a whole town — his ground.
By 1830 he was operating a ferry at La Bahia Crossing, running a hotel, running a saloon. The man wasn't settling in so much as building an empire one river crossing at a time. Then comes 1835, and here's where the story leans in close around the fire.
Andrew Robinson fought in the Battle of Gonzales. And his unit — his unit — was the one that carried into battle the original Lone Star flag. Made by Sarah Dodson.
That flag, that battle, that moment. Robinson's people were the ones holding it. He lived on until 1852, a man who had been first in, and had stayed to see what Texas became.
First boot on the ground, co-founder of a town, captain of militia, nine thousand acres, a ferry and a hotel and a saloon, and the Lone Star flying over his unit at Gonzales. Andrew Robinson Senior didn't just arrive in Texas. He helped make it something worth arriving to.
What the marker says
First settler of Stephen F. Austin's "Old 300" colonists to arrive in Texas. Came November 1821 with his wife Nancy and 2 children. In 1824 he received title to over 9,000 acres of land and was made a captain in the colonial militia. The town of Washington was surveyed on his grant and he became a co-founder of it. By 1830 he was operating a ferry at La Bahia Crossing as well as a hotel and saloon. In 1835 he fought in the Battle of Gonzales, where his unit first carried into battle the original Lone Star flag made by Sarah Dodson. He died 1852.