MEET THE EMPRESARIOS
Stephen F. Austin
Stephen F. Austin was a legislator, judge,
bankers, and newspaper editor before
becoming an empresario. He had valuable
contacts with Mexican leaders. People trusted
them.
His colony was between the Colorado
and Brazos rivers. The soil was rich, and
rainfall was plentiful. It was also far from
most Native Americans. Austin looked for
settlers who had good character. He prevented
those who did not have such good character
from settling in his colony. If settlers acted
badly, he expelled them. He also lent money
to settlers when they needed it.
Martin De Leon
Martin De Leon was born in Mexico in 1765.
He came from a family of wealthy nobles. He
had experience in business and as a military
officer.
In 1805, De Leon started a cattle ranch
in Texas. He later secured an empresario grant
along the lower Guadalupe River. The land
was very good for ranching and for farming.
De Leon was skilled in handling relations with
Native Americans. The town of Guadalupe
Victoria was part of the colony.
Green DeWitt
Green DeWitt was born in 1787 in Kentucky.
Like Austin, he grew up in the Spanish
territory of Missouri.
DeWitt received an empresario grant in
1825. His land was south of Austin’s and
north of De Leon’s. The land was well
watered by the Guadalupe and other rivers.
The land was good for farming and ranching.
DeWitt built the town of Gonzales as
the center of his colony. The town had a fort.
Attacks by Native Americans forced the
colonists to leave Gonzales for a while.
DeWitt’s original contract mistakenly
gave him some land that had already been
granted to De Leon. The government said the
land was De Leon’s. These two empresarios
did not get along. DeWitt and Austin enjoyed
good relations, though.
Haden Edwards
Haden Edwards was born in 1771 in Virginia.
He studied law but was more interested in
dealing in land. He was a wealthy man.
Edwards won an empresario grant in
East Texas, along the Sabine River. The land
was forested. The wooded areas were good
land, but the trees had to be cleared.
Edwards did not have problems with
hostile Native Americans. Still, there were
difficulties. His land was near Nacogdoches.
Some settlers already lived in his grant. He
angered them by requiring that they show
documents proving that they owned the land.
Sterling Robertson
Sterling Robertson, born in 1785, served in the
American army during the War of 1812. He
was also a planter. Then he left his native
Tennessee to become an empresario.
His land grant was north and northwest
of Austin’s. The Brazos, Trinity, and other
rivers watered the land. Some sections were
heavily wooded, and the land needed to be
cleared. The friendly Waco Indians had a
large village in one area of the grant. The
river-drained land was good for farming.
Robertson was less careful than Austin
about bringing people of good character to his
colony.
Prices of Unsettled Land
In Texas: 12.5 cents an acre or less
In the United States: $1.25 an acre