Stephen Fuller Austin was one of the great men of Texas in its early days. He was born in 1793 in Austinville, Virginia. His father, Moses Austin, went to Texas in 1821 to establish a colony there, but died the same year.
Texas was
then a part of Mexico. In 1822, Stephen Austin got permission from
the Mexican government to settle a colony of several hundred American
families in Texas, as his father had planned to do. In 1833 the
American colonists sent Austin to Mexico City, capital of Mexico, to
ask the Mexican government to allow Texas to have a separate state
government of its own.
The Mexicans refused and
put Austin in prison for a year. When he was released from prison and
returned home he found the Texans in revolt against Mexico. For a
time he was commander-in-chief of the Texas army that fought against
Mexico. Later he was sent to the United States to get money and
supplies for the army of Texas. In 1836, when Texas had become an
independent country after defeating the Mexicans, he ran for the
presidency of Texas but was beaten by Sam Houston. However, he became
secretary of state under President Houston. Austin died in December,
1836.
