Moses Austin

1
Moses Austin

• first man to obtain permission to bring
  Anglo-American settlers into Spanish Texas

2
Moses Austin

• born in Durham, Connecticut, on Oct. 4, 1761
• moved to Philadelphia in 1784 to run a dry
  goods business (sold clothes, textiles, etc) with
  his brother, Stephen
• In 1785, he married into the affluent iron mining
  family of Mary Brown

http//www.dallashistory.org/history/texas/coloniz
ation.htm
3
Austinville founded

• Austin wanted to start his own mining company
• 1789 - traveled to Wythe County Virginia to look
  at the lead mine site
• Moses, his brother Stephen, and several other
  individuals built several smelters, furnaces,
  commissaries, the Jackson Ferry Shot Tower,
  blacksmith shops, liveries, and mills were
  established.

4
Iron Smelter

• Used to extract iron from its ore (which is
  impure)

http//www.flickr.com/photos/worldwidewandering/34
7105380/
5
Jackson Ferry Shot Tower

• Used to manufacture lead shot for shotguns and
  muzzle loading guns
• Stands 75 feet high with a shaft 75 feet below
  ground
• Shot needs to fall 150 feet to form a ball
• Shot fell into a large kettle of water and was
  retrieved via a tunnel by the river

http//www.oldindustry.org/ShotTowers/Jackson_Ferr
y.html
6
Difficult times

• The Austin's ran up debts (money owed) which
  leads to the collapse of the company
• Moses left his brother to go to Missouri, while
  Stephen remained behind to salvage the business -
  caused a rift between the two brothers
• The state of Virginia seized much of the property
  Moses owned

7
Potosi, Missouri founded

• Austin took Spanish citizenship
• moved his wife and their children, Stephen and
  Emily, to Missouri along with 30 other Anglo
  families
• they founded the first permanent settlement in
  what is now Washington County, Missouri

http//www.flickr.com/photos/mikebitton/1848594928
/
8
Militia citizen soldiers

• The territorial governor, appointed Austin to a
  local judgeship, and he served as an officer in
  the local militia.

http//www.flickr.com/photos/8829986_at_N04/561122580
/
9
Panic of 1819 and Financial Ruin - Again
5 Bill used in 1819
http//thebeckfamily.com/emma/panicof1819/pc.htm

• first major financial crisis
• property values collapsed, unemployment rose,
  banks closed
• Austin was arrested for the nonpayment of his
  debts
• jailed for a short time, but forced to sell his
  home and business at auction

10
Determined to start over again

• Austin rode to San Antonio de Bexar in 1820 to
  request an empresarial grant from the Spanish
  governor

Governors palace courtyard, San Antonio
http//www.soulofthegarden.com/dailymuse0703.html
11
Help from a friend

• The governor, Antonio María Martínez, refused to
  listen to Austin and ordered him to leave the
  territory immediately
• While departing, Austin encountered an
  acquaintance, Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de
  Bastrop
• using his influence, Bastrop persuaded the
  governor to approve Austins request
• In January 1821, Austin left for Missouri with a
  grant to bring 300 families into Texas

12
Pneumonia

• On the trip out of Texas, Moses contracted
  pneumonia from four weeks of wet and cold weather
• Pneumonia is an infection of the lung, where it
  fills with fluid making it difficult to breathe.
• In the United States, pneumonia is the sixth most
  common disease leading to death today. 

http//medkast.libsyn.com/index.php?post_category
MedkastEpisodes
13
A Request for His Son

• Two days before Moses Austin died, he called his
  wife to his bed. "After a considerable exertion
  to speak," she wrote her son, "he drew me down to
  him and with much distress an difficulty of
  speech, told me it was two late, that he was
  going...he beged me to tell you to take his place
  tell dear Stephen that it is his dieing fathers
  last request to prosecute the enterprise he had
  Commenced."

Stephen Fuller Austin
http//www.thebestlinks.com/Stephen_Fuller_Austin.
html
14
Internment

• Moses Austin died on June 10, 1821, at the home
  of his daughter, Emily Bryan, and was buried in
  the Bryan family cemetery.
• In 1831 the remains of both Moses and his wife
  were removed to a public cemetery in Potosi,
  Missouri on land they once owned.

http//www.flickr.com/photos/msabeln/2275562209/
15
Credits

• Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http//www.tsha
  online.org/handbook/online/articles/AA/fau12.html 
  (accessed December 7, 2008).
• Wikipedia contributors, "Moses Austin," Wikipedia,
  The Free Encyclopedia, http//en.wikipedia.org/w/
  index.php?titleMoses_Austinoldid252626041 (acce
  ssed December 7, 2008).