Moses Austin (October 4, 1761–June 10, 1821) is best known for his efforts in the American lead industry and as the father of Stephen F. Austin.

Early Life

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Moses was born in Durham, Connecticut and soon moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1784 to enter the drygoods business with his brother Stephen. In 1795 he married into the afluent iron mining family of Mary Brown. Moses sought to start his own mining of ore in southwestern Virginia and soon the tiny village around the mines was called Austinville. He and Mary's second child survived and they named him Stephen Fuller in 1793 in honor of his father's brother and his mother's great uncle. Their daughter Emily soon followed in 1795, followed in turn by James Elijah Brown in 1803.

Businessman

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After his lead business lead to near bankruptcy, Moses looked towards the rich lead deposits in upper Spanish Louisina (Missouri). In December of 1796 Moses and another man traveled to investigate the Spanish mines. In 1798 the Spanish Crown granted to Moses one-league (4,428 acre) and he moved his family from Austinville on 8 June 1798. He built his home, Durham Hall, an imposing southern-style mansion, in Potosi, and developed the lead mining in Mine á Breton. The territorial governor William Henry Harrison appointed Moses to a judgeship and served as an officer in the local militia.

In 1808, he founded the town of Herculaneum on the Mississippi River, building a lead smelter there. Moses joined a group of St. Louis businessmen who wanted to establish the embattled Bank of St. Louis. They were granted a charter but failed to raise the capital to commence business. It wasn't until 1816 that the bank doors were finally opened. In 1813 Moses petitioned the territorial legislature to create the county of Washington and to locate the county seat at Potosi.

The War of 1812 and the panic of 1819 left Moses financially ruined. On 11 March 1820, Moses was arrested at his house for his nonpayments on his debts. He was jailed only a short while, but he was forced to sell at auction his Mine á Beton estate.

Texas

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The summer of 1819 Moses had a plan to settle three hundred American families in Spanish territory. On 23 December 1820, Moses rode into San Antonio de Béxar and met with provincial governor Antonio Mariá Martínez and presented his plan. Martínez ordered Moses out of the country. With the help of the Duthman, who he briefly met twenty years earlier in New Orleans, Baron Felipe de Bastrop presented the land scheme to the governor on Moses' behalf. The governor passed along the idea to Commandant General of the Eastern Interior Province Joaquín de Arredondo. Moses was granted 200,000 acres (800 km²) of land at the mouth of the Colorado River.

Upon leaving San Antonio, Moses, traveling with the slave Richmond, acquired a person name Jacob Kirkham. This man was a black-marketeer who stole all the horses and supplies of Moses and left them on foot. Moses and Richmond were left unarmed on the Trinity River for a week. They ate only acorns and roots to survive. The pair made their way to McGuffin's inn near Natchitoches on 15 January 1821. He was bedridden for three weeks. By June of 1821 he became ill with pneumonia and died on 10 June. Stephen's mother wrote to him saying, "...drew me down to him an with much distress and difficulty of speech, told me it was too late, that he was going..he begged me to tell you to take his place dear Stephen that it is his dieing fathers last request to prosecute the enterprise he had Commenced." He left his son, Stephen, to fulfill his dream of owning and selling colonists land in Texas, leading to the settlement of Texas by Anglo-Saxons, and ultimately, the Texas Revolution.

Notes

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Moses Austin and his wife are entombed at the public cemetery in Potosi, Missouri.

References

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• 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 10-0-684-86291-3
• Cantrell, Gregg; Stephen F. Austin-Empesario of Texas; Yale University Press; ISBN 0-300-09093-5

American businesspeople | 1761 births | 1821 deaths | People from Connecticut | People from Texas | History of Texas