Moses Austin

Portrait of Moses Austin

Moses Austin (October 4, 1761 – June 10, 1821) played a large part in the development of the American lead industry and is the father of Stephen F. Austin, a leading American settler of Texas. He was the first to be allowed to gather Anglo Americans for settlement in Spanish Texas. He also established the first English American settlement west of the Mississippi River.

Biography

Austin was born in Durham, Connecticut to a family that can be traced back to Richard Austin, who arrived on the ship "Bevis" in Massachusetts colony in 1638, only a few years after the colony was founded.^[1]

In 1784, he moved to Philadelphia to enter the dry goods business with his brother, Stephen. He then moved to Richmond, Virginia to open a second dry goods store.

In 1785, he married into the affluent iron mining family of Mary Brown, who then became known as Mary Brown Austin. The Austins' first child was born in 1793 and named Stephen F. Austin in honor of his father's brother and his mother's great uncle. Their daughter Emily Austin followed in 1795. James Elijah Brown Austin was born in 1803.

Austin sought to start his own mining business in southwestern Virginia, and in 1789 he traveled to southwest Virginia to look at a lead mine site. Moses saw potential in the site and by 1791 his family had joined him in what is now Wythe County. Moses and his brother Stephen and several other partners and individuals industrialized the area. Several smelters, furnaces, commissaries, the Jackson Ferry Shot Tower, blacksmith shops, liveries, and mills were established. The tiny village around the mines became known as "Austinville," and Moses came to be known as the "Lead King."

Moses Austin house in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri; April 2007

The brothers ran up debts, causing the collapse of the company. After the Virginia lead business failed, Austin looked toward the rich lead deposits in Missouri, then a part of upper Spanish Louisiana.^[2] In December 1796, Austin and a companion traveled to investigate the Spanish mines. In 1798, the Spanish crown granted to Moses one-league (4,428 acres). In return he swore allegiance to the Spanish Crown and stated he would settle some families in Missouri. Stephen remained behind to salvage the Virginia business, creating a rift between the two brothers that would last for much of the rest of their lives. The state of Virginia seized much of the property Moses owned and broke up the various operations, which were later purchased from the state at great discounts by Thomas Jackson and his partners.

In 1803, Missouri came under the jurisdiction of the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Austin's American bank failed in the Panic of 1819, causing him to lose his entire fortune. He again sought help from Spain. In 1820, he presented a plan to colonize Texas to Governor Antonio María Martínez. The Governor rejected Austin's plan due to the ongoing attacks on Spanish Texas by American filibusters. An old acquaintance, Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop, helped Austin convince the governor to accept his plan. In 1821, the governor asked Austin's friend, Erasmo Seguín, to give him the news, that he had been awarded the first colonization contract in Texas. With the governor's approval, Moses Austin returned to Missouri. Although he died in 1821, his son Stephen F. Austin carried out his colonization plan.

Family

Moses Austin had many relatives who helped settle Texas, including Stephen F. Austin (son), Emily Austin Perry (daughter), Moses Austin Bryan, grandson, and others. Moses Austin should be distinguished from his grandson Moses Austin Bryan. James Bryan was his first son-in-law; James F. Perry was his second son-in-law. The Missouri State Archives reflect that Moses Austin lived in a mansion called Durham Hall, named for his birth town of Durham, Connecticut.^[3]

Death

The tomb of Moses and Maria Brown Austin

Moses Austin died of pneumonia. The tomb of Moses Austin is located in Potosi, Missouri.^[4]

A statue of Moses Austin located in San Antonio, TX

Footnotes

1. ^ http://library.uta.edu/guideToArchives/guideHist1.jsp
2. ^ Edmond son (2000), p. 56.
3. ^ http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/msaphotos&CISOPTR=1210&CISOBOX=1&REC=1
4. ^ http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/msaphotos&CISOPTR=2030&CISOBOX=1&REC=2

References

• Barker, Eugene C., Life of Stephen F. Austin (1926)
• Edmondson, J.R. (2000), The Alamo Story-From History to Current Conflicts, Plano, TX: Republic of Texas Press, ISBN 1-55622-678-0 
• Gracy, David B., Moses Austin: his life (Trinity University Press, 1987) ISBN 0-911536-84-1
• Haley, James L. "Texas An Album of History", Doubleday & Co., ISBN 0-385-17307-5
• Haley, James L.;"Passionate Nation: The Epic History of Texas';Free Press; ISBN 0-684-86291-3
• Cantrell, Gregg; Stephen F. Austin-Empesario of Texas; Yale University Press; ISBN 0-300-09093-5
• Moses Austin from the Handbook of Texas Online
• "Moses Austin", A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, Vol. 1 (1988), p. 25

Further reading

• Warren, Betsy (1996), Moses Austin and Stephen F. Austin: A Gone to Texas Dual Biography, Hendrick-long Pub. Co., ISBN 9780937460962 

Persondata
Name	Austin, Moses
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 4, 1761
Place of birth
Date of death	June 10, 1821
Place of death