[Document Signed]: Stephen F. Austin, [n.d]

Texas Founding Father Stephen F. Austin Twice Signed Promissory Note

Autograph Document Signed "Stephen F. Austin," in text, and again "Stephen F. Austin," on the verso 1 page, 7.5" x 3.5", writing out a promissory note to Martin Ruggles, one of the founders of Caledonia, Missouri, for $700. Signed "Martin Ruggles," below Austin's text. 

The document reads, in full: "Sixty days after date I promise to pay Stephen F. Austin or order Seven Hundred Dollars payable and negotiable in the Bank of St. Lou[is a]mount defalcation for value recd."

Background on Stephen F. Austin

AUSTIN, STEPHEN FULLER (1793–1836). Stephen F. Austin, founder of Anglo-American Texas, son of Moses and Maria (Brown) Austin, was born in Virginia on November 3, 1793. In 1798 Moses Austin moved his family to lead mines in southeastern Missouri and established the town of Potosi in what is now Washington County. At age of eleven, Stephen’s father sent him to a school in Connecticut, from which he returned westward and spent two years at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky.

After his return from Transylvania in the spring of 1810, he took over the management of most of the lead business. He served the public as adjutant of a militia battalion and was a member of the Missouri territorial legislature. After failure of the Austin business in Missouri, he investigated opportunities for a new start in Arkansas and engaged in land speculation and mercantile activities. In August 1820, he moved to Natchitoches, Louisiana, and in December, 1820 to New Orleans. At this time Moses Austin was on his way to San Antonio to apply for a grant of land and permission to settle 300 families in Texas (The Old 300).

Though not enthusiastic about the Texas venture, Austin agreed to assist his father. He arranged to obtain a loan to float the enterprise and was at Natchitoches expecting to accompany his father to San Antonio when he learned of Moses Austin's death. He proceeded to San Antonio, where he arrived in August 1821. Authorized by Governor Antonio María Martínez to carry on the colonization enterprise under his father's grant, he explored the coastal plain between the San Antonio and Brazos rivers for the purpose of selecting a site for the proposed colony. Among other details, he arranged with Martínez to offer land to settlers in quantities of 640 acres to the head of a family, 320 acres for his wife, 160 acres for each child, and 80 acres for each slave. Austin was authorized to collect 12½ cents an acre in compensation for his services.

Austin returned to New Orleans, published these terms, and invited colonists, saying that settlements would be located on the Brazos and Colorado rivers. The long depression, followed by the panic of 1819 and changes in the land system of the United States, made settlers eager to take advantage of the offer, and the first colonists began to arrive in Texas by land and sea in December 1821. (Adopted from the TSHA Handbook).