INTRODUCTION

Stephen F. Austin played a major role in developing the great state of Texas. He was the first person to bring American settlers into the state, and he did this before it was even an American territory. We know him today as "The Father of Texas." This is his story!

Hey there! My name is Stephen F. Austin. I was born long long ago on November 3, 1793. I started out in Virginia, moved around a bit with my family, but I eventually made my way to the great state of Texas.

In the year 1820, my father, Moses Austin, traveled to Texas with big plans in mind. He had received a land grant from the Mexican government to bring settlers to Texas. Unfourunatley my father passed away before he could bring the settlers.

That is where I came in, and started my journey to becoming the father of Texas! After exploring the land I decided I wanted to bring my settlers to an area near the Colorado & Brazos Rivers.

I started bringing settlers to the land, which was then still owned by Mexico, in January of 1822. It was a lot of work, and I had many jobs to do.

This is a copy of the land grant that had been translated into English for me.

I was an empresario for the land, in charge of controlling the immigration in to the area, establishing a judicial & law enforcement system, surveying the land, and supervising the basic social infrastructure. You can imagine how busy I was!

I would be lying if I said there were no problems between Mexico, and the colony I had started. These issues grew until 1830, when Mexico prohibited us from bringing any more settlers as a way to limit our American influence in the area.

The settlers, and myself, desperately wanted to be a separate state. In 1833 I headed off to Mexico City armed with a constitution written by the people of the colony.

The constitution they had come up with had many grievances, and demands. I was happy to hear that we had convinced Mexico to repeal the law prohibiting us to bring in new settlers!

Unfortunately the good news did not last long. At that same meeting, Mexico let me know that they would not grant our statehood.

The bad news just kept getting worse for me. During my trip to Mexico City I was imprisoned for suspicion of inciting an insurrection.

Here is a glimpse of the journal I kept in prison.