Born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri,
Stephen Fuller Austin is considered the founder of
Anglo-American Texas. At the age of eleven years, he
attended school in Connecticut and later graduated with
distinction from Transylvania University in Kentucky.
In 1813, at the age of twenty-one years, he was elected to
the territorial Legislature of Missouri, and was reelected
to that position each year until 1819, when he moved to
Arkansas. Meanwhile, Stephen's father, Moses Austin,
received a grant of land in Texas for purposes of
colonization. The elder Austin died soon after returning to
Missouri from a trip to Texas, but bequeathed his grant to
Stephen with instructions to carry it to a successful
completion. Accordingly, after many delays and frustrations
with the Mexican government, Steven Austin introduced a
large number of colonists from the United States. An
unassuming man with a kindly presence, he was deeply
respected by all, and achieved unparalleled influence over
the often unruly settlers in Anglo Texas. Austin is
remembered in Texas history for his many efforts on behalf
of Texas before, during, and immediately after Texas'
Revolution with Mexico. His contributions to Texas included:
long and perilous pilgrimages to Mexico on behalf of Texas;
his unwillingness to counsel his people to take up arms
against the Mexican government as long as any hope for peace
remained; his firm and decided voice, speaking words of
encouragement and hope during the darkest days of the
revolution; and his laborious travels in the United States
to obtain needed support for his struggling countrymen.
After devoting the best years of his life to the cause of
Texas, Austin was overcome by disease and on 27 December
1836 died an untimely death at the age of forty-three years.