DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and it's a story worth telling right. Moses Austin. The man who set something in motion that would change Texas forever.
A native of Durham, Connecticut, Austin married Mary Brown in 1785, and from there he climbed his way into becoming a leading figure in the development of the American lead industry. That business carried him to Virginia, then west to the Mississippi Valley. He wasn't just a businessman either — Austin helped establish several frontier communities, a colonizer and pioneer in his own right.
The man had a habit of looking at empty land and seeing possibility. So when he turned his eyes toward the Spanish territory of Texas, nobody who knew him should have been surprised. In 1820, Moses Austin made his way to San Antonio de Bexar.
What he needed was permission, and what stood between him and that permission was the Spanish Governor, Antonio Martinez. Austin didn't walk in alone. With the help of Felipe Neri, Baron de Bastrop, he made his case — requesting permission to settle a colony of three hundred Anglo-American families in the province.
Then he turned around and headed back to Missouri. Now, here's where the story gets heavy. Austin learned in March 1821 that his petition had been granted.
Three hundred families. A colony. A foothold in Texas.
It was everything he'd worked for. But the journey had taken something out of him. He was ill from the effects of it — seriously ill — even as he began making plans to raise that colony.
Three months after hearing the news that should have been his triumph, Moses Austin died. He was buried in the Hazel Run settlement, and later reinterred in Potosi, Missouri. He never saw a single one of those three hundred families cross into Texas.
But here's the thing about Moses Austin — he made sure, even in dying, that the work wouldn't stop. His son, Stephen F. Austin, took up his father's dying wish and carried the colonization project forward.
In late 1821, Stephen led the first of the Old Three Hundred colonists into Texas. The father planted the seed. The son brought the harvest.
And Texas has never been the same since.
What the marker says
The initiator of Anglo-American settlement in Texas, Moses Austin was a native of Durham, Connecticut. After his marriage to Mary Brown in 1785, Austin became a leading figure in the development of the American lead industry. His buiness took him to Virginia and then west to the Mississippi Valley. A colonizer and pioneer as well, Austin helped establish several frontier communities. Moses Austin's decision to ventrure into a colonziation enterprise in the Spanish territory of Texas led him to San Antonio de Bexar in 1820. With the help of Felipe Neri, Baron de Bastrop, Austin requested permission from the Spanish Governor, Antonio Martinez, to settle a colony of 300 Anglo-American families in his province. Austin returned to Missouri, where he learned in March 1821 that his petition had been granted. Although ill from the effects of his journey, he began making plans to raise a colony. Three months later, Moses Austin died in the Hazel Run settlement, where he was buried. He was later reinterred in Potosi, Missouri. In response to his father's dying wish, Stephen F. Austin continued the colonization project and led the first of the "Old 300" colonists into Texas in late 1821. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986.