Moses Austin

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Moses Austin (October 4, 1761 – June 10, 1821) was a leading figure in the development of the American lead industry and the father of Stephen F. Austin, a pioneer settler of Texas. He was the first to obtain permission for Anglo Americans to settle in Spanish Texas. He also established the first Anglo-American settlement west of the Mississippi River.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Businessman 3 Footnotes 4 References 5 Further reading

[edit] Early life

Austin was born in Durham, Connecticut, and moved to Philadelphia in 1784 to enter the dry goods business with his brother, Stephen. In 1785, he married into the affluent iron mining family of Mary Brown. Austin sought to start his own mining in southwestern Virginia, and in 1789 he traveled to southwest Virginia to look at the 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".

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 followed in 1795. James Elijah Brown was born in 1803. The Austin's ran up several debts as part of their business which would lead to the eventual collapse of the company. Moses left his brother for Missouri and swore allegiance to the Spanish Crown, while Stephen remained behind to salvage the business which would cause 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.

[edit] Businessman

After the Virginia lead business failed, Austin looked toward the rich lead deposits in Missouri, then a part of upper Spanish Louisiana.^[1] 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).He then obtained a divorce and married a lady by the name of Maria Hobbs.

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] 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

[edit] Further reading

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