Early setters brought very few items to Texas and were allotted land based on farming and livestock needs.
By Joan Frances –
“Twenty years from now you
will be more disappointed by things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sail. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
Look around, his name is everywhere. The State Capital, street names and Texas schools proudly display his appellation. Historians continue to attribute his accomplishments as one of the most successful colonization movements in American history.
In 1820, Moses Austin, a businessman and store owner in Richmond, Virginia, obtained a grant from Mexico for an American colony in Texas. Unfortunately, he contracted pneumonia and died before it was carried out. His son, studying law and working at a newspaper in New Orleans, vowed to finish what his father began. His name was Stephen F. Austin.
The Spanish government, in an effort to entice colonists to settle the Spanish Tejas frontier, was willing to market tracts of land for little to no cost for economic growth. Once the eleven year Mexican War for Independence ended successfully, the new government affirmed Austin’s contract declaring him the rightful heir to his father’s grant. Austin was granted the empresario or land agent title to promote immigration and to settle three hundred families in Texas from the United States.
When Austin set out to find land for his colony, he discovered rich river bottom between the Brazos and Colorado rivers located in 19 Texas counties. Through advertisements, he promised inexpensive, abundant acreage available for 12 ½ cents per acre. Families from Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee traveled this dangerous trip by foot, wagon, horse and water to take ownership of the land. Married heads of families received one labor or 177 acres of land if they farmed or one league, about 4,428 acres, if the land was allowed for stock-raising and farming. Clearly every man, no matter what he did, listed his occupation as farmer and stock-raiser to receive the most for his money.
The Fort Settlement group consisted of 58 of the original three hundred colonists located in present day Fort Bend. The Brazos remained the choice destination because of river access and the rich soil. As the colonists arrived, they were met by the Karankawa Indians. These natives were alligator-greased and sulfur-smeared to protect their skin from mosquitoes and masked the human scent for hunting. Many of the settlers considered them dangerous. The Indians were not cannibalistic and ended up moving to the coastal areas between Galveston and Matagorda.
Fort Bend continued to be a final destination place for people coming to America to start life again. As time went on, these ambitious settlers were met with difficulties. Thirty thousand Americans were living in three districts of San Antonio, Nacogdoches and the Brazos, which included Fort Settlement. The Mexican government halted immigration on April 6, 1830, thus causing the relationship with the two countries to be strained. President John Adams and Andrew Jackson sent representatives to purchase eastern Texas, including Austin’s colony. Mexico did not agree. War ensued and the Texas Revolution began. The famous battle at the Alamo in February 1836 pitted 7,000 of General Santa Anna’s Mexican forces against Texas rebel’s two hundred defenders.
Thomas Barnett of Fort Settlement and other Texas leaders convened to issue a Declaration of Independence with General Sam Houston as the leader. On March 6th, the Alamo fell to Mexico. Two weeks later, 400 Texans were captured and killed at Goliad. Colonists evacuated the area along both sides of the Brazos River, known as the Runaway Scrape. Finally, on April 21st, General Santa Anna’s army of 1,200 men was captured at San Jacinto, sixty miles from Fort Settlement. This event set the stage for Texas to be an independent Republic.
The settlers of Fort Bend suffered many hardships and death. Thanks to their resilience and persistence, life began again and continues to prosper today. Stephen F. Austin, the man who began the original three hundred, had a dream, a vision, to discover and explore to make the world a better place to live.