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DE WITT'S COLONY.
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colony was called Guadalupe Victoria, in honor of the first
President of Mexico. This settlement was for a time most
prosperous.* It seemed at this time that nearly the whole
of Texas would be divided among the various empresarios.
DE WITT'S COLONY.
While Austin was in Mexico trying to secure permis-
sion to carry out the plans he and his father had made,
Green De Witt, of Missouri, was also in the city to obtain
a grant of land. Austin was treated with more kindness
than the other empresarios, for as his case was considered
exceptional his petition was granted in 1823, while De
Witt was forced to wait till 1825. De Witt's colony was
to be located southwest of Austin's and was to contain
400 families. De Witt appointed as his surveyor and ad-
ministrator James Kerr, who resigned a seat in the senate
of Missouri to accept the position. While De Witt was
still absent, Kerr arrived at the site of the colony,t and (in
1825) settled at Gonzales, which was named for Don Ra-
fael Gonzales, governor of Texas and Coahuila. The colo-
nists were so much troubled by the Indians that they were
finally forced to leave Gonzales, and flee to the settlements
on the Colorado. Kerr afterward moved the colony to the
Lavaca, but when, in 182 7, De Witt arrived with his fam-
* The boundaries of De Leon's grant were as follows: north, De Witt's colony;
east, Lavaca River and Bay; south, Matagorda and Espirito Santo Bays; west
and southwest, Coleto Creek and G-uadalupe River.
t One of the settlers who came with Kerr was "Deaf" Smith, of whom the
pupil will read later as a hero in the Texas struggle for independence.
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Pennybacker, Anna J. Hardwicke. A new history of Texas for schools : also for general reading and for teachers preparing themselves for examination, book, 1895; Palestine, Tex.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2388/m1/84/?rotate=270: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.