Stephen F. Austin, Father of Texas

Stephen F. Austin, Father of Texas. November 3, 1793 - December 27, 1836. , Stephen was born in Virginia to Moses and Maria Austin in 1793. Stephen grew up to help run his father's lead mining business in Missouri, serve in the local militia battalion and the Missouri territorial legislature. Later, as Stephen studied law in New Orleans, Moses gained permission to colonize Texas. Moses' dying wish was for Stephen to carry on the work in Texas., Stephen began by reaffirming his father's grant from the Mexican government to settle 300 families. Austin chose this area to begin his colony, considering it to be the best land in all of Texas., In 1821, the first of Stephen F. Austin's "Old 300" stepped of the schooner Lively at the mouth of the Brazos River. So, here in Brazoria County began an extraordinary fifteen years of settlement that would change the wilderness into an independent Republic. Citizens of the town of Brazoria forged many of the plans for the Battle of Velasco and the Texas Revolution itself. The Treaties of Velasco, which effectively recognized Texas's independence, were signed in what is now Freeport. West Columbia served as the first capital of Texas., Austin planned to build his retirement home at Peach Point Plantation, the home of his sister Emily Bryan Perry and her husband James F. Perry. However, Austin's life was tragically cut short by pneumonia in the winter of 1836. A historical marker outside of West Columbia marks the place of Austin's death, and his original gravestone still remains in Gulf Prairie Cemetery in Jones Creek., Stephen F. Austin's devotion to the colony has led many to say that Austin felt as though Texas had become his wife and the colonists his children earning him the title "The Father of Texas."