National Register of Historic Places Eligibility Testing of Sites 41LT172 and 41LT354 in Luminant's Kosse Mine, Limestone, Texas Page: 12
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3. Previous Archeological Investigations and Cultural Context
The first organized and government-sanctioned efforts by Anglo-Americans to settle in the region
date to 1821 when the Texas Association, forerunner of the Robertson Colony, was officially
chartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Amid political turmoil within the Mexican government and
growing tensions between Mexico and Anglo-American settlers, the claims and efforts of this colony
became confused with those of the Nashville Company. Subsequent attempts to establish
permanent settlement were less than successful, and few, if any, surviving settlements were
established. However, in June 1830, Sterling C. Robertson and Alexander Thomson Jr. agreed to
bring 100 families to the Leftwich Grant.
The Leftwich Grant, from which both Robertson and Limestone counties were created, was initially
part of two empresario grants made by the Coahuila y Texas legislature in 1825 to Hayden Edwards
and Robert Leftwich (Maschino 2011). The grants authorized the men to settle 800 families each
within the boundaries of their individual holdings. The Leftwich Grant was also known as the
Nashville Colony, the upper colony, and in its final incarnation, as Robertson's Colony. After much
wrangling, Leftwich eventually secured a contract with Mexico to bring settlers into Texas in his
own name. He subsequently sold the contract back to the organization he had originally been
working for, a Nashville-based group known as the Texas Association, with the stipulation that the
colony bear his name. It was one of the group's original stockholders, Sterling Clack Robertson,
along with his partner Alexander Thomson Jr., who undertook the daunting task of recruiting
colonists under the contract in 1830 (McLean 2011). Unlike others who tried before him, Robertson
eventually overcame many obstacles to make the operation a success.
By 1830, the Mexican government was becoming increasingly alarmed at the growing number of
Americans immigrating to Texas from the United States and the influence they had over the region.
In reaction, they implemented a policy designed to reassert their control, which became known as
the Law of April 6, 1830. The most controversial articles of the legislation annulled incomplete
empresario land grants and called for a halt to United States immigration to Texas. While Stephen F.
Austin successfully argued for a reinterpretation of the law and eventually helped to amend major
provisions, the grants to the Texas Association remained suspended. Believing that the law had
halted activity by the group, Austin and his agent, Samuel M. Williams, secured the rights to the
Leftwich Grant from the Mexican government (Sherman et al. 2006). Consequently, between 1831
and 1834, Leftwich's Grant was referred to as the upper colony, and Austin and Williams proceeded
to "sell permits to nonresident speculators to locate huge grants in that area." This action by Austin
caused conflict between him and Robertson, as well as between potential colonists, which, along
with the constant threat of Indian raids, worked to impede settlement in the region for many years
(McLean 2011).
After years of legal tribulations, Robertson finally regained his contract on May 22, 1834. In the
same decree, he was named as the colony's empresario and was given until 1838 to introduce the
remainder of his 800 families into the area (McLean 2011). He successfully brought approximately600 families into the colony by the deadline, but few if any settled in the project vicinity during this
Private and Confidential
Atkins 100021558/110187 12
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Atkins North America, Inc. National Register of Historic Places Eligibility Testing of Sites 41LT172 and 41LT354 in Luminant's Kosse Mine, Limestone, Texas, report, February 2012; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth839205/m1/21/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.