Stephen F Austin: Empresario of Texas

by Gregg Cantrell

Stephen F Austin is considered the Father of Texas. He was an American who moved to Mexico and figured out how to live and work with Mexican Authorities. He wanted to populate Texas, but did not want to do so as invaders, but as migrants. He played within the rules. Other Texas migrants, not so much. Here is his story and the origins of Texas as an independent Republic.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, American History, Biography Memoir

510 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 1999

About the author

Gregg Cantrell holds the Erma and Ralph Lowe Chair in Texas History at Texas Christian University.

Reviews

[Porter Broyles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stephen F Austin: Empresario of Texas is one of the best introductions to Texas History that I've read.

It focuses on Stephen F Austin, the Father of Texas. The early part of the book talks about his pre-Texas days. For example, prior to coming to Texas, Austin had a crush on a young lady that went on to become the mother of Mary Todd---Abraham Lincoln's wife! The Austin family was always in constant flight of the US border, moving ever westward as the entrepeneurial family ever garnered wealth through a new business venture and the lost it. At one point, Stephen Austin was even became an elected official in territorial Missouri.

Using his success as a politician and businessman, Austin was able to finagle a deal to help settle Texas as an Empresssario. Austin worked it out with the Mexican authorities to grant prospective immigrants approximately 1-2 square miles of land depending on the family size. Austin took that offer and advertised the land for a set rate in various American papers. The flat rate he intended to charge would have resulted in a cost per acre of about $0.125 cents per acre. After advertising this land, the Mexican government increased the land grant to about 7 square miles and capped the amount Austin could charge. Turning his mildly profitable endeavor into a potential money losing one. Ever the businessman, Austin still capitalized on this and figured out a way to make money (often by encouraging the immigrant to sign over part of their land grant to him in exchange for clear to title to the rest of their land.)

Another interesting area of discussion centered around the Fredonians. The area around Nachadoches was well known for having bandits. Prior to the Texas Revolution, this area was relatively unpatrolled. Both the US and Mexican authorities had claimed jurisdiction at various points and as a result, neither enforced the law. In the 1820s, the Fredonians attempted to declare their independence from both Mexico and the US. The claimed the entirety of Texas. Austin and others loyal to Mexico helped to squash this early rebellion.

The discussion of slavery: Austin hated slavery, but realized that the key to Texas being appealing to immigrants required slavery. Mexico outlawed slavery. Thus, Austin had to thread a needle that enabled Anglo immigrants to bring their slaves to Texas without running afoul of Mexican law. One way they did so was by "freeing" the slaves prior to entering Texas and then having those "freed" slaves sign a lifelong contract for servitude. Another way was to arrange for slaves brought into Texas to remain slaves, but for some sort of gradual emancipation (e.g. children are free.)

Santa Anna: Santa Anna is never really portrayed in American history in a positive manner. His wants and desires seem to shift as the wind blows. Cantrell basically says that. At points Santa Anna is very pro-Anglo-Texan, at other points very anti-Anglo-Texan. At points pro-Austin at others his enemy.

Overall, while I've read several books on the subject of Texas History, this has been one of the more concise and better histories of the early stages.

[Cynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

There seems to a group of people who seemingly fail at various occupations and professions only to rally and become someone we honor centuries later. Stephen F Austin is one such person.

I appreciate how Austin was not put on a pedestal but honored for his work. Much of what Austin did was to serve the original settlers and others who came later, always thinking of Texas.

I appreciate how Austin developed friendships with Mexican leaders. He sought to keep Texas part of Mexico for as long as he could do it. So he found it necessary to build and maintain relationships. Sometimes/often Austin found it necessary to play two sides of a political discussion. Again, whatever Austin did, he deemed necessary for the wellbeing of Texas. I am thinking: An imperfect being living in an imperfect world among other imperfect being. Yet he did his best.

Now the small buddy group inside GR Nonfiction Book Club wants to read a good Santa Anna book. We read on about Texas Revolution.

[Laura Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good solid biography on Stephen F. Austin. It showed him through is actions and his words. He came across as very human.

[Lin F · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been interested in learning more about Stephen F. Austin since graduating from the university in Nacogdoches, TX, that bears his name almost 30 years ago. I don't know why it took me so long, but it was worth the wait.

Stephen Austin's role in the colonizing of Texas, working with the Mexican government, and the eventual revolution are covered very well by Cantrell. I learned so much about Texas history beyond the battles remembered from 7th grade history class- the Alamo and San Jacinto. The details of the empresario contracts and the political maneuverings were especially interesting. Stephen F. Austin was a man who was tuned in to his place in history and wanted to make a name for himself, but kept the interests of the pioneers who colonized Texas at the forefront.

I found this biography to be very readable and well organized. There are images disbursed throughout and they complimented the text nicely. Anyone interested in going a little deeper into Texas history by learning more about the man often called the "Father of Texas" will enjoy this book.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading nonfiction books like this always remind me that not all five star reads are the same, especially with non fiction.

This is well researched and well written. Is there a strong narrative that pulls you through the book like a William Manchester biography or an Erik Larson book? No but this book isn't trying to do that.
This book is trying to give the reader an honest, well researched biography about the father of Anglo-Texas.
There is no hyping up or pushing aside of things that don't fit the author's narrative(an issue I always struggle with when it comes to "pop-history" books which I love but the flaws can be frustrating).

I think it is a mandatory read for anyone interested in Texas history. I think it is important for anyone interested in Mexican history as well.

[Terry Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the Epilogue and Appendix - which are worth reading - the book is 384 Pages. The notes sections is broken out by pages for easy reference. The author uses extensive primary sources, secondary sources and sources with Hispanic context.

The book is a sweeping biography of Austin's life. Its importance to history and Texas cannot be overstated. Like all men, Austin had his strengths and weaknesses and the author lays these out in great detail. Austin was a complex man, prone to melancholy, but supremely confident in his abilities.


Excerpt from the Introduction: ' Austin embodied the conflicts and contradictions of his day. He was what modern Americans would term a workaholic, driven by his quest for success and fortune. Yet he also had a Jeffersonian sense of duty and obligations to his fellow man, an urge that that forced him to deny, both to himself and others, that he was just another self-interested Jacksonian "man on the make."' ' Austin personifies the tension between older and newer conceptions of American Nationalism.'

All in all this is an excellent book rich with detail, but also a very readable history - a history that is generally left out of mainstream education.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

a somewhat sad picture of how austin's heroic journey to establish the best place in the world was really just a desperate attempt to get the family out of perpetual debt and keep a promise to a severe, but dead, father. but, look where it got him. cantrell emphasizes how the whole austin family, because of their multiple failed business ventures basically thought the whole world was out to get them, and austin carried this persecution complex with him when everything goes wrong during the settling of texas. and everything does seemingly go wrong.

it is only when political dealings with the rotating-door mexican government turn sour that austin the hero emerges. by now, he is the father figure of the thousands of settlers in texas, and when he gives the green light, more or less, the texas revolution begins.

[Aaron Bucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredibly in depth book that incorporates Stephen F. Austin’s own letters and correspondence into the biography. I learned an enormous amount of things about The Father of Texas that I had never been exposed to. Anyone interested in Texas should take the time to read this biography. It has changed my view of the Texas revolution and really explained to me the way things materialized in the early 1800’s. By necessity, the book covers some Mexican history of the time to explain the culture and causes that Stephen F. Austin was involved in. This is just a great book.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be required reading for Texas high school students. As a life long Texas history fan, I never fully appreciated the extent of Austin's efforts for the original Texas colonies. This books does a great job of laying out the early history of the American colonization of Texas in a readable way.

[Danny · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent biography. Worth a read for those interested in the history of Anglo Texas. This lit is really making me more interested in the history of Mexico. I'll be on the lookout for more lit on the subject.

[BigHeadWalt · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very good, compelling read regarding the "father of Texas"

[Krystal Mercer Mclellan · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a gem! If you are interested to learn about Stephen F. Austin the man versus the myth, then this biography will not disappoint. It hits on all the good, bad, and ugly accomplishments of SFA’s life and work, and the primary source facts behind the narrative effectively deflate the idol into something more humanlike.

Side note - I recommend visiting the Stephen F. Austin statue and museum in Angleton, Texas as well. The Ranger/Historian I met with there is another useful resource on the history of Brazoria County and the Austin Colony:
http://brazoriacountytx.gov/departmen...