Stephen F. Austin
(Father of Texas)
1793–1835
Stephen F. Austin was the founder of the State of Texas. He explored, in 1821, the
country watered by the Colorado and Brazos Rivers, and brought a party of emigrants from New Orleans to the
site of the present city of Austin. The next year a grant made to his father by the Mexican Government was
confirmed to him. The Texan colonists, having formed a Constitution in 1833, sent Austin to the City of Mexico
to obtain for them admission to the Mexican confederacy; but he found the country in a state of anarchy and
totally failed in his mission, and was himself imprisoned in that city until September, 1835. At that time
the Texans, having armed to drive out the Mexicans, appointed Austin commander-in-chief. In November of the
same year he was sent as commissioner to the United States. He died in 1836.
Adapted from The Dictionary of Biography by Charles Morris
Key events during the life of Stephen Austin:
| Year |
Event |
| 1793 |
Birth of Stephen Austin. |
| 1821 |
Colonized what is today Austin, Texas. |
| 1835 |
Sent as commisioner to United States. |
| 1836 |
Death of Stephen Austin. |
Other Resources
| Contemporary |
Short Biography |
| Sam Houston |
Founder of the state of Texas, and first governor. |
| Davy Crockett |
Tennessee Frontiersman and congressman. Involved with Texas independence. Died at the Alamo. |