The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 31, July 1927 - April, 1928 Page: 45
390 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Committee on Texan Declaration of Independence
as an older, more experienced man, he would advise Austin to dis-
pose of his colony business, as all individuals had not been pleased
with his methods of granting land, and that it would inevitably
cause him personal trouble and loss of power.121 Subsequently,
Gaines' activities, on the whole, more than once indicated that he
was resentful toward Austin.
On August 21, 1826, Gaines wrote Austin, complaining of
Colonel William Pettus's assertions that "there was no law nor
authority in Nacogdoches . . and that your Honour had
command to the River Sabine by which the opposers of the law
and authority to Raise a company for that purpose promising them
you would recognize them." Gaines further charged, too, that
John Sprowl of Ayish Bayou had received a letter from Jesse
Thomson and Payton "in the handwrite of Joseph White . "
which he would not discuss and that there probably was some-
thing like a "Revolution on foot."'12 Sprowl firmly denied Gaines's
charges of despicable conduct on the part of some of Austin's set-
tlers in a letter to Austin, November 5, 1836, in which he attrib-
uted Gaines's proscription of several respectable colonists to "the
poison of his malice.""'2 Further evidence that Gaines was com-
ing in for much criticism by the settlers around Nacogdoches was
admitted by his brother-in-law, Samuel Norris, in a letter to Austin
on September 5, 1826.124
While Norris was writing to Austin regarding Gaines's inno-
cence of misrepresentation, Gaines was writing to the Government
at Saltillo:
Burrill Thompson declared to me there was no law nor author-
ity there and that he would persist in regulating His Company
and had this meeting and agreed to send John A. Williams to
Stephen F. Austin to sanction agreeable to what Pettis had told
them. . .. I received a letter this morning from Austin's
Colony this day and am informed that they are worse there than
here and I presume the confusion came first from them or the
cause.
Austin has requested the Alcalde of this place to check me as
2lIbid.
14Barker, The Austin Papers, I, 1428-1429, as cited.
"~Gaines to Austin, The Austin Papers.
"4Norris to Austin, in Barker, The Austin Papers, II, 1448-1449, as
cited.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 31, July 1927 - April, 1928, periodical, 1928; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101088/m1/51/?rotate=90: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.