The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 99, July 1995 - April, 1996 Page: 15
626 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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1995 The Partnership of Stephen F. Austin and Joseph H. Hawkins 15
not think it would be advisable in the present state of things to do so...."
Instead she expressed her "reliance on the goodness of your heart" and
was "perfectly willing to resian [resign] the welfare of my Fatherless Chil-
dren to you. .. ." "write often," she urged her husband's old friend."3
Three years later, in 1827, she wanted to send a legal representative
to Texas to proceed with the division of the lands, but she feared she
would "not be able to engage a suitable one for some time.""' As chance
would have it, Austin was not able to perfect the titles to his 22'/2 leagues
of premium land until the following year, so any division before then
would have rested upon a shaky legal basis. But in March 1829 Austin
notified Nathaniel Cox that he was ready to divide the land. George
Anne Hawkins had trusted Austin to make a fair division, but the empre-
sario told Cox he preferred "laying the plats all before you, as the agent
and friend of the heirs and I also wish to consult with you as to the best
mode of Making the Estate of some value to the heirs." Under Mexican
law, title to the land could not be vested in a non-resident alien, so
Austin offered to "take charge of the property and sell parts of it, or
lease and settle other parts," or to "cheerfully and faithfully" do anything
else she desired, "but this should be done under the authority of special
instructions to that effect--from the legal agent of the Estate after the
division is made and Hawkins part designated."35
The wheels continued to turn slowly-much too slowly, as far as
Austin was concerned. The bulk of his loo,ooo acres of premium land
lay along the lower Brazos River in modern-day Brazoria County. It was
in Austin's interest to have the division of the lands made, because the
value of his own property depended in part on the overall economic de-
velopment of the area. That economic development was stunted as long
as large tracts of land adjoining his remained unoccupied and unim-
proved. The sooner titles could be made to the Hawkins heirs for their
share and the land be cultivated, leased, or sold, the better it would be
for Austin.36
George Anne Hawkins finally appointed her brother, R. C. Nicholas,
to go to Texas and arrange for the division of the lands. But Nicholas
did not come at once, and George Anne died soon after. Over the next
" G. A. [Mrs. Joseph H.] Hawkins to Stephen F. Austin, Oct. 9, 1824, Austin Papers, I, pt. i, p.
923.
34 Mrs.J. H. Hawkins to Stephen F. Austin, Aug. 4, 1827, Austin Papers, I, pt. 2, p. 1674.
m Stephen F. Austin to Nathaniel Cox, Mar. lo, 1829, Austin Papers, II, 181.
36 Austin was so anxious to settle the Hawkins business that he returned to Texas after attend-
ing the 1832 session of the state legislature in Saltillo rather than traveling to Mexico City as he
had earlier planned. See Stephen F. Austin to Samuel M. Williams, Apr. 12, 1832, Austin Papers,
II, 764.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 99, July 1995 - April, 1996, periodical, 1996; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101217/m1/43/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.