The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 22, July 1918 - April, 1919 Page: 1

THE
SOUTHWESTERN HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
VOL. XXII JULY, 1918 No. 1
The publication committee and the editors disclaim responsibility for views expressed by
contributors to THE QUARTERLY
STEPHEN F. AUSTIN*
EUGENE C. BARKER
Considering the difficulties of his task, the completeness of his
responsibility for its accomplishment, and its far-reaching results,
Stephen F. Austin has claims to being the greatest colonial propri-
etary in American history.
He was born in Wythe County, Virginia, November 3, 1793,
moved to Missouri at the age of five, spent four years (1804-1808)
at different Connecticut schools and two at Transylvania Uni-
versity, and then, at the age of seventeen, returned to Missouri,
with schooling complete, to plunge into his father's complex busi-
ness, a part of which he took over in 1817. In 1813 he was elected
to the territorial legislature of Missouri, and by successive re-
elections served until 1819; in 1815 Governor Clark gave him an
adjutant's commission in the Missouri militia; in 1818 he became
a director in the ill-fated Bank of St. Louis; two years later Gov-
ernor Miller appointed him judge of the federal circuit of Arkansas;
and at the beginning of 1821 he was editing a newspaper at New
Orleans.' With training and experience of such breadth and ver-
'This paper was read before a joint meeting of the American Historical
and Mississippi Valley Historical Associations at Philadelphia, December
28, 1917. It is here reprinted from the Mississippi Valley Historical
Revicw of June, 1918.
'The statements of this paragraph are drawn from a sketch of Moses
Austin, written by Stephen F. Austin. and one of Stephen F. Austin,
written by his nephew, Colonel Guy M. Bryan, in Wooten (editor), A
Comprehensive History of Texas, I, 439-447 (Dallas, 1898). I have con-
firmed all of them from contemporary documents, except dates of service
in the Missouri Legislature.