Stephen Fuller Austin (1793 to 1836) has been known, since shortly after his death, as the "Father of Texas," as he was not only the first to lead Anglo-American settlers to the region and establish colonies but also endured the hardships of organizing these settlements and their laws, mandating socially acceptable behavior, and serving as liaison between colonists and the Mexican government.

Austin shouldered all these responsibilities himself, often at great personal cost, but, initially, he had no intention of engaging in any of them or anything having to do with settlements in the region of Coahuila y Tejas (Texas), the northern district of New Spain (Mexico) until 1821.

Austin's father, Moses Austin, had been granted permission by the Spanish government to bring Anglo-American settlers to Texas when the region was still under Spanish control. Moses died in 1821, the same year Mexico won its independence from Spain, and his dying wish was that his son would complete his work.

Stephen F. Austin planned on becoming a lawyer and had already been a popular politician when his father died. That event changed the course of his life, and so he may rightly be called the "Reluctant Father of Texas."

Stephen F. Austin was born in Virginia on 3 November 1793 to Moses Austin and Mary Brown Austin and had one sister, Emily. In 1798, the family moved to the region that would become Potosi, Missouri but was then a northern region of Spanish Louisiana. In order to live there and set up a business, Moses had to petition the Spanish government for permission, which was granted after he became a Spanish citizen, marking Moses Austin's first interaction with Spanish officials.

Part of the deal he made with these officials was that he would bring more Anglo-American settlers to the region, and these, through established business, would form successful communities and a firm tax base in a region that, at the time, was largely wilderness. Moses met these obligations, opened a lead-smelting business, and engaged in slave trading as he used enslaved Africans and Native Americans daily in his mines.

In 1803, after the Louisiana Purchase, the region became part of the United States, and Moses was instrumental in establishing the Bank of St. Louis in addition to running his lead-smelting business, the mines, and operating a general store. He was doing well financially and was able to afford the best education for his son.

In 1804, when Stephen Austin was eleven, he was sent east to school at the Bacon Academy of Colchester, Connecticut, and, from there, went on to study at Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, graduating in 1810 at the age of 17 and then returning home.

Upon his return, Stephen Austin took over running his father's store and, in time, the management of the lead business. He had no intention of making either of these his career, however, and began studying to become a lawyer. In 1814, when he was 21, Austin was elected to the Missouri Territory Legislature and was able to help his father's bank, which was struggling.

The Austins' fortunes, along with those of many others, took a drastic reversal with the Panic of 1819, the first major economic depression in the United States. Moses Austin lost everything he had worked for, and so did his son. Stephen left to try his luck in Arkansas Territory, while Moses headed for the administrative center of Texas: San Antonio de Béxar.

Moses' plan was to offer the same services to the Spanish Crown as he had in Missouri: colonize the wilderness of Texas in return for compensation in land. He arrived in San Antonio in 1820 and presented his proposal to the governor, Antonio María Martínez. Martínez threw him out. He was not interested in any plan that could open the gates of Texas to a flood of Anglo-American immigrants.

Stumbling out of Martínez's home, Moses saw someone across the plaza he thought looked familiar. This was Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop, whom Moses had met 20 years earlier in the Missouri Territory. Bastrop, well-known to Martínez, remembered Moses, agreed to help him, and successfully argued his case.

It was agreed that Moses Austin would bring 300 families to Texas from what had formerly been Spanish Louisiana – and so these settlers would have previously been Spanish citizens, just as Moses had been. The settlers would renew their Spanish citizenship in Texas, establish communities, and protect the district from Native American attacks, especially those of Comanche raiders.

Moses returned to Potosi, initiating plans to start over in Texas and win back his former wealth. He died of pneumonia, however, in June 1821. As his health failed, he told his wife he hoped that Stephen would complete his work, and she sent this request on in a letter to her son. And so it was that Stephen F. Austin, budding lawyer, became Empresario Austin of Texas.

An empresario, in New Spain and later Mexico, in the 19th century, was someone who was promised land in exchange for establishing colonies in the district of Coahuila y Tejas. The empresario was responsible for attracting settlers, guiding them to the lands allotted for their communities, establishing laws that conformed to those of Mexico, and making sure the immigrants abided by them.

In Austin's case, he was promised 67,000 acres of land for every group of 200 families he brought to the region. Austin advertised his venture in newspapers and through handbills in Louisiana, and many, still suffering from the fallout of the Panic of 1819, jumped at the opportunity. Austin met with two Tejano officials – Don Erasmo Seguín and Juan Martín Veramendi – at Natchitoches, Louisiana, and these men guided Austin and his small band of settlers toward San Antonio de Béxar.

Once there, the prominent official Juan Antonio Navarro greeted them and promised his help in establishing the colonists, while Antonio María Martínez authorized Moses Austin's grant to be transferred to Stephen Austin. Baron de Bastrop was also present and took up the role he had promised to Moses to serve as the land commissioner.

Everything seemed to be going well until the news arrived that Mexico had won its independence from Spain. Martínez assured Austin that this would not affect the colonization efforts and that Austin's contract would be recognized by the new government. He warned Austin, however, that he – Austin – would be held personally responsible for the good conduct of anyone he accepted as a settler. Accordingly, Austin proceeded as planned, sending out more notices to Louisiana and neighboring territories offering land to anyone who would make the trip, but stipulating

No person will be admitted as a settler who does not produce satisfactory evidence of having supported the character of a moral, sober, and industrious citizen.

(Edmondson 70)

By 1822, Baron de Bastrop had filed 297 land titles, and the grant for the settlements that would come to be known as "the old 300" (the original 300 Anglo-American families in Texas) was established as the settlers arrived to claim their lands and begin building their homes.

As it turned out, Martínez had been wrong. The administration of Emperor Agustín de Iturbide refused to acknowledge any contracts made with the former Spanish government. Austin was forced to make a 1200-mile (2000 km) trip overland to Mexico City to convince officials to approve his grant. After some delays, the grant was authorized on 3 January 1823.

The new arrangement stipulated that the colonists would not need to pay any fee, but Austin had already established that colonists would need to pay him 12.5 cents an acre for his services. Claiming that the new grant superseded Austin's original deal with them, many colonists refused to pay him, and Austin could do little to force them to honor their earlier agreement.

Austin's settlers were meanwhile busy establishing themselves in the region, but they ran into a significant problem: there were already people living there – the Karankawa People – Native Americans who had no intention of surrendering their lands. Austin had met with Karankawa representatives and established friendly relations, but then he claimed their lands as part of his grant, notably areas around Galveston Bay that the Karankawa relied on for food.

When the Karankawa would not surrender these lands, or any others, Austin decided they would have to be exterminated, leading to the Skull Creek Massacre of February 1823, in which 19 Karankawa were killed, and their homes burned. Austin established what would become the Texas Rangers that same year, at first a volunteer force to deal with Native Americans. Afterwards, Austin supported the policy mandating that any Karankawa should be shot on sight, and by 1827, all the lands formerly belonging to the Karankawa in the region had been taken by Anglo-American colonists.

Having fulfilled his obligations to the Mexican government in settling 300 families in the region, Austin was given another grant to bring in 500 more. Austin had acted as a kind of "moral judge" of the first 300, expelling those who did not conform to his standards of a "good citizen." Accordingly, he clarified who would be eligible for his next round of colonization:

the most unequivocal and satisfactory evidence of unblemished character, good morals, sobriety, and industrious habits…No frontiersman who has no other occupation than that of a hunter will be received – no drunkard, no gambler, no profane swearer, no idler.

(Edmondson, 81)

The settlers were also expected to learn Spanish, convert to the state religion of Roman Catholicism, and become Mexican citizens. These last stipulations were largely ignored by the immigrants, who were almost all Protestant Christians, saw no reason to learn Spanish, since their communities would be speaking English, and did not want to give up US citizenship.

In fact, they viewed their settlements in northern Mexico as simply extensions of the United States and demanded the Mexican government recognize their "God-given rights" as US citizens. Even so, this did not become a serious problem until 1829, and prior to that point, Austin could boast of the sterling reputation of his colonists as among the most morally upright and industrious to have ever settled a frontier.

The immigrants got around the requirement that they convert to Catholicism through the intercession of one Father Muldoon, a liberal and jovial priest in San Felipe who supervised conversions. After performing the required ritual and baptism, Muldoon could not have cared less how the settlers worshipped, and "Austin's colony began to fill up with what became known as "Muldoon Catholics" (Edmondson, 81).

The settlers had, so far, managed to ignore their agreement to pay Austin for his services, to learn Spanish, to convert to Catholicism, and to become Mexican citizens, but, in 1829, they ran into a problem they could not so easily skirt. That year, the Mexican government abolished slavery and, as many – if not all – of the settlers were slave owners, they threatened to revolt.

Austin was able to win concessions from the government to allow the settlers to keep their slaves, but in 1830, these were withdrawn, leading to further unrest in the region. More and more colonists began to resist the rulings of Mexican officials, and in 1832, the lawyer William Barret Travis made a defiant stand while trying to retrieve runaway slaves from Mexican governor Juan Davis Bradburn, an event later known as the first of the Anahuac Disturbances.

By 1834, there were around 30,000 Anglo-Americans in the region of Texas, referring to themselves as Texians, and almost all of them held slaves – even only one or two. The colonists had convened the Convention of 1832 to address problems with the Mexican government, but they made clear they were not interested in seceding from Mexico. Not every colonist agreed with this, however, and two factions formed – the Peace Party, seeking reconciliation with Mexico – and the War Party, advocating for armed resistance and the establishment of an independent Republic of Texas.

The Convention of 1833 was of a different character than the 1832 gathering, as many of the War Party attended. James 'Jim' Bowie, who was a Mexican citizen and formerly of the Peace Party, attended and was now aligned with William B. Travis and the War Party. Hoping to ease tensions, Austin traveled to Mexico City to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflicts, but, suspected of inciting rebellion to win independence, he was imprisoned for two years.

Austin returned to Texas in 1835 to find revolutionary fervor at an all-time high. In July of that year, William Barret Travis had led a force of 25 Anglo-American and Tejano militia against 40 Mexican troops, captured and disarmed them, and sent them out of the region. This was the second of the Anahuac Disturbances. Mexican General Martin Perfecto de Cos called for Travis' arrest, but the colonists would not surrender him, commissioning him instead a lieutenant colonel of the cavalry.

General Cos, brother-in-law of President/General Antonio López de Santa Anna, was sent to the region to establish order and crush any open rebellion. The Texas Revolution began with the Battle of Gonzales (2 October 1835) when the Texians refused to return a cannon loaned to them by the Mexican government to protect Gonzales from raids by Comanche warriors.

This engagement was the first of the battles of the Texas Revolution, and nine days later, Austin was elected Commander of the Army of the People. The first step, Austin felt, was to establish whether the colonists were seeking a return to the federalist form of government of 1824 (which had been abolished by Santa Anna) or the establishment of an independent republic.

A provisional government, the Consultation, was formed to address this at the same time that Texians were fighting to push Mexican officials and military out of the region. The Battle of Gonzales was followed by the Battle of Goliad, but Austin understood that the only significant target should be the administrative seat of the district, San Antonio de Béxar, where General Cos had concentrated his troops.

Austin led his troops during the Siege of Béxar (12 October to 11 December 1835), which included the Battle of Concepción (28 October 1835) and the Grass Fight (26 November 1835), both led by James Bowie. Austin ordered his men to prepare for an assault on San Antonio, but they refused, noting that the town was heavily fortified, Cos had turned private homes into mini-forts, and they would be slaughtered. Tired of this kind of insubordination, which had characterized much of the revolution, Austin resigned and was replaced by Edward Burleson.

Burleson was about to lift the siege and send the men home when Colonel Ben Milam rallied the troops, leading them in house-to-house fighting (in which he was killed), and taking San Antonio from the Mexicans when General Cos surrendered on 11 December.

Santa Anna refused to recognize Cos' surrender and led troops back into Texas, initiating the siege of the Alamo (23 February to 6 March 1836). The Texian garrison held the fort for 13 days until the Battle of the Alamo on the morning of 6 March, in which all were killed or executed afterwards, including David Crockett, James Bowie, and William B. Travis.

After resigning as commander in 1835, Austin had been sent as a delegate to the USA to request funds and raise recruits. General Sam Houston had been elected as commander of the regular army in November 1835 and, in 1836, forced Santa Anna to chase him across Texas, finally defeating him at the Battle of San Jacinto on 21 April. The provisional government had already declared independence on 2 March 1836, and Houston's victory meant they could move ahead and establish the Republic of Texas.

Austin was in New Orleans in June when he heard of Houston's victory and hurried back, arriving in August. He submitted his name as a candidate for president of the new republic, and it seemed he would win without contest until Sam Houston announced his own candidacy two weeks before the election. As the "Hero of San Jacinto," Houston won, receiving over 5,000 votes to Austin's 587. As compensation, Houston appointed Austin as his secretary of state.

Austin served in this capacity for two months before he died of pneumonia on 27 December 1836 at the age of 43. Houston hailed him as the "Father of Texas," the epithet he is still known by, and he was buried at the Gulf Prairie Cemetery in Brazoria County, Texas, until 1910, when his remains were reinterred at the Texas State Cemetery in the city named in his honor, and later the capital of Texas, Austin.

Although Stephen F. Austin initially had no interest in Texas or colonization, he almost single-handedly established the Anglo-American presence in the region, for better or worse. Austin, personally, rejected slavery but recognized it had been a "necessary evil" in the development of the United States and would be so in Texas.

Austin's policies on slavery informed the Texas Constitution of 1836, clearly mandating slavery as an integral aspect of the republic and ensuring Texas would enter the United States as a slave state, the 28th state of the Union, on 19 February 1846.

He may initially have been the "Reluctant Father of Texas," but, in overseeing almost every aspect of colonization between 1821 and 1833, and taking a lead role in the revolution in 1835, he stamped the history of Texas with his own powerful personality.