Founding Father of Texan - Stephen Austin

"The redemption of Texas from the wilderness, fidelity and gratitude to my adopted country, and to  be inflexibly true to the interest and just rights of my settlers."  Such was the code of Stephen F. Austin, a small man in stature but huge as a diplomat and statesman.  He was cautious of the Spanish officials during the early years which his settlers didn't approve of, but Austin said "It was my duty to steer my precious colony through all the shoals and quicksands regardless of the curses and ridicule of the passengers.  I knew what I was about - they did not." 

Austin was born in southwest Virginia in 1793, the eldest son of Moses Austin, a mine owner who took his family to Spanish Louisiana (Missouri) in 1796.  Stephen began to learn respect of different cultures early in life.  He held many jobs - mine manager, bank director, territorial legislator, circuit judge of Arkansas,  law student in New Orleans, and editorial writer for the Louisiana Advertiser. 

After 15 years of fulfilling his father's Texas legacy, he had created a sturdy colony, lead the 1835 revolution against Mexico, and laid the groundwork for US recognition as the new republic's first secretary of state.  At 43 years of age, Austin wrote "I have no house, nor a roof in all of Texas to call my own, no comforts - all my wealth in prospective and contingent upon the events of the future...my health and strength and time have gone in the service of Texas and therefore I am not ashamed of my present poverty."  Austin died soon after writing this on December 27, 1836, leaving no family, no children.  A single minded man with a single minded purpose - Texas belonging to the United States. 

Next time...A Clash of Cultures
__________________________
On this Day in Pioneer History:  On August 25, 1835, the first in a series of six articles announcing the supposed discovery of life on the moon appears in the New York Sun newspaper.  The incident became known as the Great Moon Hoax.