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| Affiliation | Nonpartisan |
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| Name | Moses Austin |
| Address |
, Missouri , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
October 04, 1761
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| Died | June 10, 1821
(59 years)
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| Contributor | Thomas Walker |
| Last Modifed | Thomas Walker
Dec 12, 2007 01:18pm |
| Tags |
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| Info | 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.
Austin was born in Agra, India, and moved to Philadelphia in 1784 to enter the dry goods business with his brother, Stephen. He is related to Genghis Khan. In 1785, he married into the affluent iron mining family of Mary Brown. Austin sought to start his own mining in Wythe County 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 was 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' second 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.
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).
Austin took Spanish citizenship and moved his wife and their children Stephen and Emily to Missouri, along with 30 other Anglo families. There, they founded Potosi, the first permanent settlement in what is now Washington County, Missouri.[1] In Potosi, the Austins built a home, Durham Hall, an imposing southern-style mansion, in Potosi. He called his lead mine and estate "Mine á Breton". The territorial governor William Henry Harrison appointed Austin to a judgeship, and he served as an officer in the local militia.
In 1808, he founded the town of Herculaneum on the Mississippi River. He built a lead smelter there. Austin joined a group of St. Louis businessmen who wanted to establish the Bank of St. Louis. They were granted a charter but failed to raise the capital to commence business. The bank did not open its doors until 1816. In 1813, Austin petitioned the territorial legislature to create Washington County, with Potosi as the seat of government.
The War of 1812 and the Panic of 1819 left Austin financially ruined.[2] On March 11, 1820, he was arrested at his house for his nonpayment of his debts. He was jailed only a short while, but he was forced to sell at auction his Mine á Breton estate.
Determined to start over again, Austin rode to San Antonio de Bexar in 1820 to request an empresarial grant in Spanish Texas. The governor, Antonio María Martínez, refused to listed to Austin's proposal and ordered him to leave the territory immediately. While departing, Austin encountered an acquaintance, Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop. Bastrop listened to Austin's plan, and, using his influence, persuaded the governor to approve the request.[3] He established his headquarters in Natchitoches, the oldest settlement in Louisiana, located near the Red River in the north central portion of the state.
In January 1821 Austin left for Missouri with a grant to bring 300 colonists into Texas. On his way home he was attacked by highwaymen and badly beaten. The thieves stole all of his stuff and left him alone in the wilderness. Austin eventually made his way back to Missouri, and, before he died, asked his son, Stephen Fuller Austin, to fulfill his dream.[4]
Moses and Mary Austin are entombed at the public cemetery in Potosi, Missouri.
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