Other Texas Colonies

Martin de leon• It was Martín's desire to create a permanent

settlement.• In 1806 he set up a ranch between Chiltipin Creek

and the Aransas River.• He petitioned the Spanish Governor of San Antonio

in 1807 and in 1809, for land, but was turned down because the Spanish government thought he wasn’t loyal to Spain.

• He started a new ranch on the east side of the Nueces River where he raised cattle and bred wild mustangs.

Martin de leon• DeLeon finally got permission to settle 41 families from the

lower "reaches" of the Guadalupe River between the Guadalupe and Lavaca rivers, the center of which became the town of Victoria.

• Although boundaries were not established as part of the contract, which led to trouble with other empresarios.

• As a Mexican citizen the empresario received more land and more time to settle, which gave them legal preference in the border disputes with Anglo settlers around Guadalupe Victoria.

• The colony was successful and had a pleasant relationship with nearby Native Americans, they named him “Captain Plenty Cows”.

Green dewitt• In 1825, Austin and Baron de Bastrop helped a man

from Missouri named Green DeWitt to get permission to introduce 400 families into the area southwest of the Austin Colony within six years.

• DeWitt and his colonist created the town of Gonzales.

• DeWitt nor the government realized that his contract partially overlapped DeLeon’s colony since DeLeon’s boundaries were not officially recorded with the government.

Green dewitt• The De Leon colonists were there legally by a provision

that new grants could not remove settlers currently on their land.

• The Mexican government sided with DeLeon.• The series of disputes with DeLeon were mainly protests

of various wrongdoings by both sides to the authorities in San Antonio to try to discredit each other with the Mexican government.

• Despite the motivation behind DeLeon's actions, the affair did little to make him accepted by the less than 40 DeWitt Colonists who were struggling to survive their first year in the new land.

Green dewitt• Since DeLeon was a Mexican Rancher and had fought

in the Revolution, the government tended to side with him in many of the disagreements with the anglos.

• DeWitt did bring over 166 families which included over 500 people to his colony, but it did fall short of the number in his contract.

• Dewitt’s colony faced many other problems• Eventually, Dewitt’s colony lasted and had around 400

colonists.

Other settlements and empresarios

• Irish: John McMullen, James McGloin, - located at San Patricio and Refugio – Mainly settled Mexican families.

• James Power, James Hewetson located near Corpus Christi – Mainly settled Mexican and Irish families.

• German: Johann Friedrich Ernst – Fredericksburg and New Braunsfels – settled in a corner of Austin’s colony.

• Interactive Map of Colonies