The Texas General Land Office invites the media to explore documents from the Father of Texas
AUSTIN - Tomorrow - November 3 - the Father of Texas turns 216. To celebrate the Texas General Land Office Archives invites the local news media to take a tour of the GLO*s Stephen F. Austin collection.
The archives here are the best source of Stephen F. Austins extensive land records said Jerry Patterson Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office. For a Texas history buff like me being able to see his actual signature on the Registro - in which he kept wrote his land records -is exciting stuff.
Though Virginian by birth Stephen Fuller Austin is now known as the Father of Texas. Spanish officials authorized land grants for Austin to bring 300 families to the region but his troubles began when Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821. The Mexican government initially refused to recognize Austins land grants but the with tenacity of a skilled diplomat Austin persevered. By 1823 the grants were reauthorized.
To protect the new colonists of Mexican-ruled Texas Austin organized small armed groups that eventually became the Texas Rangers. By 1835 the new Texas settlers declared war on Mexico for their independence.
Austin led troops in the Battle of Bexar. The settlers won independence during the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21 1836. Austin lost the September 1836 race to be the first president of the Republic of Texas to Sam Houston but he served as the republic*s first secretary of State before his death on December 17 1836.
The Archives contain maps survey notes and the famous Registro for public viewing. They are protected through an innovative effort called Save Texas History. For more information log on to
www.SaveTexasHistory.org. Individuals organizations corporations local governments and even school kids can contribute to the conservation of these documents and do their part to ensure they continue in perpetuity.
Its not every day you get to celebrate someones 216th
birthday Patterson said. *Come by the Stephen F. Austin Building here at 17th and Congress and our great staff will show you the treasures of Texas history the GLO has to offer.
