Old Three Hundred
Encyclopedia
The Old Three Hundred is a term used to describe the 297 grantees, made up of families and some partnerships of unmarried men, who purchased 307 parcels of land from Stephen Fuller Austin
Stephen F. Austin
Stephen Fuller Austin was born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri. He was known as the Father of Texas, led the second, but first legal and ultimately successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States. The capital of Texas, Austin in Travis County,...

 and established a colony near present day Brenham in Washington County, Texas.Moses Austin was the original emprisario of the Old Three Hundred

Science:
In 1790, Moses Austin , an American businessman who had taken Spanish citizenship in order to start a small colony in Missouri, travelled to San Antonio de Bexar
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...

 to request an empresarial
Empresario
An empresario was a person who, in the early years of the settlement of Texas, had been granted the right to settle on Mexican land in exchange for recruiting and taking responsibility for new settlers. The word is Spanish for entrepreneur.- Background :...

 grant in Spanish Texas
Spanish Texas
Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of New Spain from 1690 until 1821. Although Spain claimed ownership of the territory, which comprised part of modern-day Texas, including the land north of the Medina and Nueces Rivers, the Spanish did not attempt to colonize the area until after...

. The governor, Antonio María Martínez
Antonio María Martínez
Antonio María Martínez was a colonel in the infantry regiment of Zamora and the last governor of Spanish Texas.-History:He was born in Andújar, province of Jaén, Spain. He entered military service on July 7, 1785, and had a distinguished career, winning the Cross of Northern Europe and the Cross...

, refused to listen to Austin's proposal and ordered him to leave the territory immediately. While departing, Austin encountered an acquaintance he had met years earlier at an inn in Spanish Missouri, Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop
Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop
Felipe Enrique Neri was a Dutch businessman and land owner known for his assistance in Anglo-American settlement of Texas.-Early life and family:...

. Bastrop listened to Austin's plan, and, using his influence, persuaded the governor to approve the request. Austin's plan was approved, and in January 1821 he left for Missouri with a grant to bring 300 colonists into Texas. On his way home he was attacked by highwaymen
Highwayman
A highwayman was a thief and brigand who preyed on travellers. This type of outlaw, usually, travelled and robbed by horse, as compared to a footpad who traveled and robbed on foot. Mounted robbers were widely considered to be socially superior to footpads...

 and badly beaten. Soon after he made his way back to Missouri, Austin died, leaving his empresarial grant to his son, Stephen Fuller Austin.

Stephen Austin agreed to implement his father's plan, and in the summer of 1821 he and a small group of settlers crossed into Texas. Before he arrived in San Antonio to meet with the governor, they learned that Mexico had earned its independence from Spain, making Texas a Mexican province
Mexican Texas
Mexican Texas is the name given by Texas history scholars to the period between 1821 and 1836, when Texas was an integral part of Mexico. The period began with Mexico's victory over Spain in its war of independence in 1821. For the first several years of its existence, Mexican Texas operated very...

 rather than a Spanish province. Governor Martinez assured him, however, that the new Mexican government would honor the colonization contract.

Moses returned to Louisiana to recruit settlers. He offered land at 12.5 cents per acre, only 10% of what comparable acreage sold for in the United States. Settlers would pay no customs duties for seven years and would not be subject to taxation for ten years. In return, they would be expected to become Mexican citizens.

In March 1822, Austin learned that the new Mexican government had not ratified his father's land grant with Spain. He was forced to travel to Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

, 1200 miles (1,931 km) away, to get permission for his colony.

The 1823 Imperial Colonization Law of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 allowed an empresario
Empresario
An empresario was a person who, in the early years of the settlement of Texas, had been granted the right to settle on Mexican land in exchange for recruiting and taking responsibility for new settlers. The word is Spanish for entrepreneur.- Background :...

 to receive a land grant within the Mexican province of Texas
Mexican Texas
Mexican Texas is the name given by Texas history scholars to the period between 1821 and 1836, when Texas was an integral part of Mexico. The period began with Mexico's victory over Spain in its war of independence in 1821. For the first several years of its existence, Mexican Texas operated very...

. The empresario and a commissioner appointed by the governor would be authorized the distribute land to settlers and issue them titles in the name of the Mexican government. Only one contract was ultimately approved under this legislation, the first contract granted to Stephen F. Austin
Stephen F. Austin
Stephen Fuller Austin was born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri. He was known as the Father of Texas, led the second, but first legal and ultimately successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States. The capital of Texas, Austin in Travis County,...

.

Between 1824 and 1828, Austin granted 297 titles under this contract. Each head of household received a minimum of 177 acres or 4,428 acres depending on whether they intended to farm or raise livestock. The grant could be increased for large families or those wishing to establish a new industry, but the lands would be forfeited if they were not cultivated within two years.

The settlers who received their titles under Austin's first contract were known as the Old Three Hundred, and they made up the first organized, approved influx of Anglo-American immigrants to Texas. The new titles were located in an area where no Spanish or Mexican settlements had existed, covering the land between the Brazos River
Brazos River
The Brazos River, called the Rio de los Brazos de Dios by early Spanish explorers , is the longest river in Texas and the 11th longest river in the United States at from its source at the head of Blackwater Draw, Curry County, New Mexico to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico with a drainage...

 and the Colorado River
Colorado River (Texas)
The Colorado River is a river that runs through the U.S. state of Texas; it should not be confused with the much longer Colorado River which flows from Colorado into the Gulf of California....

 from the Gulf Coast to the San Antonio Road
Old San Antonio Road
The Old San Antonio Road was a historic roadway located in the U.S. states of Texas and Louisiana. Parts of it were based on traditional Native American trails. Its Texas terminus was about southeast of Eagle Pass at the Rio Grande in Maverick County, and its northern terminus was at...

.
When he began advertising his colony, he received a great deal of interest. He was able to be selective in his choice of colonists, which enabled his colony to be very different from most others of the time period. Settlers were chosen based on whether Austin believed they would be appropriately industrious. Overall, they belonged to a much higher economic scale than most immigrants, and all brought some property with them. One-quarter of the families brought slaves with them. Surprisingly for the time, all but four of the men could read and write. This unheard-of level of literacy had a great impact on the future of the colony. According to historian William C. Davis
William C. Davis (historian)
William C. Davis is a professor of history at Virginia Tech University. An expert on the American Civil War, Davis has twice been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He has written more than forty books on the American Civil War and other aspects of Southern history. He was twice nominated for a...

, because they were literate, the colonists "absorbed and spread the knowledge and news always essential to uniting people to a common purpose".

Despite a provision in Mexican law requiring immigrants to be Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

, most of Austin's settlers were Protestant. Many were unenthused about being ruled by Catholics. Most also held strong feelings about property ownership and personal liberty.

Lester G. Bugbee in his article The Old Three Hundred published in the October 1897 issue of The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, identifies the head of each family who purchased land in Austin's colony. They were:
Head of household Born Died Family as of March 1826 Notes
Elijah Allcorn 1769 1844 Wife, five children, and two servants.
Martin Allen 1780 1837 Wife, nine children
John C. Alley 1822 Brother of Thomas, Rawson, and William Alley.
Rawson Alley 1793 1833 Single Brother of John, Thomas, and William Alley
Thomas Alley 1826 Single Brother of John, Rawson, and William Alley
William Alley 1800 August 15, 1869 Single Brother of John, Rawson, and Thomas Alley
Charles Alsbury Single Brother of Harvey and Horace Alsbury
Harvey Alsbury Wife Brother of Charles and Horace Alsbury
Horace Alsbury 1805 June 1847 Single; later married Juana Navarro
Juana Navarro Alsbury
Juana Navarro Alsbury was one of the few Texian survivors of the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution in 1836. As Mexican forces entered her hometown, San Antonio de Bexar, on February 23, Alsbury's cousin by marriage, James Bowie, brought her with him to the Alamo Mission so that he...

Brother of Charles and Harvey Alsbury. Member of the Coahuila y Tejas
Coahuila y Tejas
Coahuila y Tejas was one of the constituent states of the newly established United Mexican States under its 1824 Constitution.It had two capitals: first Saltillo, and then Monclova...

 legislature in 1835. Left the Alamo Mission as a courier during the Siege of the Alamo
Siege of the Alamo
The siege of the Alamo describes the first twelve days of the Battle of the Alamo. On February 23, Mexican troops under General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna entered San Antonio de Bexar, Texas and surrounded the Alamo Mission...

 in February 1836. Fought at the Battle of San Jacinto
Battle of San Jacinto
The Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County, Texas, was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Sam Houston, the Texian Army engaged and defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican forces in a fight that lasted just eighteen...

.
Thomas Alsbury 1773 Wife and two daughters Father of Charles, Harvey, and Horace Alsbury. Served in the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

.
Simeon Asa Anderson Wife, three children, one slave
John Andrews February 1838 Wife, two children, one servant
William Andrews 1840 Wife, five children, two slaves Daughter married Randal Jones in 1824.
Samuel Angier August 26, 1792 In 1829, married fellow colonist Pamelia Pickett
James E.B. Austin
James E.B. Austin
James Elijah Brown Austin was a Texian settler and brother of empresario Stephen F. Austin, "The Father of Texas." Counted also as one of the Old Three Hundred, he is listed in Spanish and Mexican records as "Santiago E.B. Austin". James and Stephen F...

October 3, 1803 August 14, 1829 Helped put down the Fredonian Rebellion. Brother of Stephen F. Austin.
John Austin
John Austin (soldier)
John Austin was a Texian settler, one of Stephen Austin's Old Three Hundred, and the Texian commander at the Battle of Velasco during the Anahuac Disturbances before Texas Revolution....

March 17, 1801 August 11, 1833 Member of the Long Expedition
Long expedition
The Long Expedition was an 1819 attempt to take control of Spanish Texas. It was led by James Long and successfully established a small independent government, known as the Republic of Texas . The expedition crumbled later in the year, as Spanish troops drove the invaders out...

 in 1819. Served as alcalde
Alcalde
Alcalde , or Alcalde ordinario, is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An alcalde was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian cabildo and judge of first instance of a town...

of Brazoria in 1832, and was a delegate to the Convention of 1832
Convention of 1832
The Convention of 1832 was the first political gathering of colonists in Mexican Texas. Delegates sought reforms from the Mexican government and hoped to quell the widespread belief that settlers in Texas wished to secede from Mexico...

. Participated in 1832 Anahuac Disturbances
Anahuac Disturbances
The Anahuac Disturbances were uprisings of settlers in and around Anahuac, Texas in 1832 and 1835 which helped to precipitate the Texas Revolution. This eventually led to the territory's secession from Mexico and the founding of the Republic of Texas...

, led Texian forces at the Battle of Velasco
Battle of Velasco
The Battle of Velasco, fought June 25–26, 1832, was the first true military conflict between Mexico and settlers in Texas. It began when Texan insurgents attacked Fort Velasco, located in what was then Velasco and what is now the present day city of Freeport...

, and signed the Turtle Bayou Resolutions
Turtle Bayou Resolutions
The Turtle Bayou Resolutions were signed by settlers during the Anahuac Disturbances, which played a role in the secession of Texas from Mexico and the creation of the Republic of Texas....

.
Stephen F. Austin
Stephen F. Austin
Stephen Fuller Austin was born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri. He was known as the Father of Texas, led the second, but first legal and ultimately successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States. The capital of Texas, Austin in Travis County,...

November 3, 1793 December 27, 1836 Brother of James Austin. Convinced Mexico to reinstate the Spanish policy of land grants for empresario
Empresario
An empresario was a person who, in the early years of the settlement of Texas, had been granted the right to settle on Mexican land in exchange for recruiting and taking responsibility for new settlers. The word is Spanish for entrepreneur.- Background :...

s
, and organized the first colony in Texas. President of the Convention of 1832
Convention of 1832
The Convention of 1832 was the first political gathering of colonists in Mexican Texas. Delegates sought reforms from the Mexican government and hoped to quell the widespread belief that settlers in Texas wished to secede from Mexico...

 and delegate to the Convention of 1833
Convention of 1833
The Convention of 1833 , a political gathering of settlers in Mexican Texas, was a successor to the Convention of 1832, whose requests had not been addressed by the Mexican government...

. In 1835, served as the first general of the Texian Army
Texian Army
The Texian Army was a military organization consisting of volunteer and regular soldiers who fought against the Mexican army during the Texas Revolution. Approximately 3,700 men joined the army between October 2, 1835 during the Battle of Gonzales through the end of the war on April 21, 1836, at...

. In November 1835, became Texas commissioner to the United States. Defeated in election for first president of the Republic of Texas
Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas was an independent nation in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1846.Formed as a break-away republic from Mexico by the Texas Revolution, the state claimed borders that encompassed an area that included all of the present U.S...

, and instead served as the first secretary of state.
James B. Baily
Daniel E. Balis
William Baratt
Thomas Barnet
Mills M. Battle 
James Beard
Benjamin Beason
Charles Belknap poop
Josiah H. Bell
Thomas B. Bell
M. Berry
Isaac Best
Jacob Betts
Francis Biggam
William Bloodgood
Thomas Boatwright
Thomas Borden
Caleb R. Bostwick
John T. Bowman
Edward R. Bradley
John Bradley
Thomas Bradley
Charles Breen
Patrick Brias
William B. Bridges
David Bright
Enoch Brinson
Bluford Brooks
Robert Brotherington
George Brown
John Brown
William S. Brown
Aylett C. Buckner
Pumphrey Brunet
Jesse Burnam
Micajah Byrd
Morris A. Callihan
Alexander Calvit
David Carpenter
William C. Carson
Samuel Carter
Jesse H. Cartwright
Thomas Cartwright
Sylvenus Castleman
Samuel Chance
Horatio Chriesman
John C. Clark
Antony R. Clarke
Merit M. Coats
John P. Coles
James Cook
John Cooke
William Cooper
John Crier
John Crownover
James Cummings
John Cummings
Rebecca Cummins 
William Cummings
James (Jack) Cummins
James (Jack) Cummins
James Cummins was a Texas farmer, public official and a colonist of Stephen F. Austin's first settlement in Texas.-Early life and family:...

 
James Curtis, Sr.
James Curtis, Jr.
Hinton Curtis
Samuel Davidson
Thomas Davis
D. Deckrow
Charles Demos
Peter Demos
William B. Dewees
John Dickinson
Nicholas Dillard
Thomas M. Duke
George Duty
Joseph Duty
Clement C. Dyer 
Thomas Earle
G.E. Edwards
John Elam
Robert Elder
Charles Falenash
David Fenton
John F. Fields
James Fisher
David Fitzgerald
Isaiah Flanakin
Elisha Flowers
Isaac Foster 
John Foster
Randolph Foster 
James Frazier
Charles Fulshear 
Charles Garret
Samuel Gates
William Gates
Freeman George
Preston Gilbert
Sarah Gilbert
Daniel Gilleland
Chester S. Gorbet
Michael Gouldrich
Thomas Gray
Jared E. Groce
Robert Guthrie
John Haddan
Samuel C. Hady 
George B. Hall
John W. Hall
W. J. Hall
David Hamilton
Abner Harris
David Harris
John R. Harris
William Harris
William J. Harris
George Harrison
William Harvey
Thomas S. Haynes
James Hensley
Alexander Hodge
Francis Holland
William Holland
Kinchen Holliman
James Hope
C.S. Hudson
George Huff
John Huff 
Isaac Hughes
Eli Hunter
Johnson Hunter
John Iiams [sic]
Ira Ingram
Ira Ingram
Ira Ingram was a soldier, legislator, and a land owner. He was a member of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred. Ingram is also noted for being the Republic of Texas's first Speaker of the House.-Early life:...

 
Seth Ingram
John Irons
Samuel Isaacks
Alexander Jackson
Humphrey Jackson
Isaac Jackson
Thomas Jamison
Henry W. Johnson
Henry Jones 
James W. Jones
Oliver Jones 
R. Jones
Imla Keep
John C. Keller
John Kelly
Samuel Kennedy
Alfred Kennon
James Kerr
James Kerr (Texas)
James Kerr was a politician in Missouri and Texas who was active in the establishment of the Republic of Texas.-Early life and family:...

 
Peter Kerr
Peter Kerr (Texas settler)
Peter Kerr , also known as Peter Carr, was the founder of Burnet, Texas and a member of the Old Three Hundred, the original settlers in Stephen F...

 
William Kerr
William Kincheloe 
William Kingston
James Knight
Abner Kuykendall 
Brazilla Kuykendall
Joseph Kuykendall 
Robert Kuykendall 
Hosea H. League
Joel Leakey
Benjamin Linsey
John Little
William Little
Jane H. Long
Jane Herbert Wilkinson Long
Jane Herbert Wilkinson Long was born July 23, 1798 in Charles County, Maryland, the niece of General James Wilkinson. Around 1811, her family moved from Maryland to Natchez, in the Mississippi Territory. There she married James Long, a doctor and a native of Virginia...

 
James Lynch
Nathanael Lynch
John McCroskey
Arthur McCormick
David McCormick
John McCormick
Thomas McCoy
Aechilles McFarlan
John McFarlan
Thomas F. McKenney
Hugh McKinsey
A.W. McClain
James McNair
Daniel McNeel
George W. McNeel
John McNeel
John G. McNeel
Pleasant D. McNeel
Sterling McNeel
Elizabeth McNutt
William McWilliams
Shubael Marsh
Wily Martin
William Mathis
David H. Milburn
Samuel Miller
Samuel R. Miller
Simon Miller
James D. Millican
Robert Millican
William Millican
Joseph Minus
Asa Mitchell
John L. Monks
John H. Moore
Luke Moore
Moses Morrison
William Morton
David Mouser
James Nelson
Joseph Newman
Charles Isaac Nidever
M.B. Nuckols
James Orrick
Nathan Osborn 
William Parks
William Parks
William Arthur Parks was a Canadian geologist and paleontologist, following in the tradition of Lawrence Lambe....

 
Joshua Parker 
William Parker
Isaac Pennington
George S. Pentecost 
Freeman Pettus 
William A. Pettus 
John Petty
J.C. Peyton 
James A.E. Phelps 
I.B. Phillips 
Zeno Phillips 
Pamelia Picket 
Joseph H. Polley 
Peter Powell
William Prater
Pleasant Pruitt
William Pryor
Andrew Rabb
John Rabb
Thomas J. Rabb
William Rabb
William Raleigh
L. Ramey
David Randon 
John Randon 
Frederic H. Rankin
Amos Rawls
Benjamin Rawls
Daniel Rawls
Stephen Richardson
Elijah Roark
Earle Robbins
William Robbins
Andrew Roberts
Noel F. Roberts
William Roberts
Edward Robertson
A. Robinson
George Robinson
James Ross
June Salmeron
Joseph San Pierre
Robert Scobey 
Marvin Scheick
James Scott
William Scott 
William Selkirk
David Shelby
Daniel Shipman
Moses Shipman 
Bartlet Sims
G.W. Singleton
Phillip Singleton
Christian Smith
Cornelius Smith
John Smith
William Smeathers
William Smeathers
William "Bill" Smeathers , also known as Smithers or Smothers, was a pioneer settler of Kentucky and later Texas....

 
Gabriel S. Snider
Albert L. Sojourner
Nancy Spencer
Adam Stafford
William Stafford
Thomas Stevens
Owne H. Stout
John Strange
Walter Sutherland
David Tally
John I. Taylor
George Teel 
Ezekiel Thomas
Jacob Thomas
Jesse Thompson
Jesse Thompson
-Life:He was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1796, 1796-97, 1798, 1808-09, 1814 and 1819.-Sources:* compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough * at RootsWeb...

 
Thomas J. Tone
James F. Tong
Samuel Toy
John Trobough
Elizabeth Tumlinson
James Tumlinson
Isaac Vandorn
Martin Varner
Martin Varner
Martin Varner was one of the original American settlers in Mexican Texas, known as the Old Three Hundred, and was a veteran of the Texas Revolution.-Early years:...

 
Allen Vince
Allen Vince
Allen Vince was one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred.Allen Vince and his brothers, William, Robert, and Richard Vince originally came from Georgia, United States. Vince was a widower whose two sons did not come with him to Texas...

 
Richard Vince
Robert Vince
William Vince
James Walker
Thomas Walker
Caleb Wallice
Francis F. Wells
Amy White
Joseph White
Reuben White
Walter C. White
William C. White
William C. White
William Clarence "Willie" White was secretary of the Ellen G. White Estate. He was placed in charge of his mother's estate at her death in 1915. "Willie," as his mother referred to him as, took on additional responsibility in helping his mother travel, write, and publish after his father's death...

 
Boland Whitesides
Henry Whitesides
James Whitesides
William Whitesides
Nathaniel Whiting
William Whitlock
Elias D. Wightman
Jane Wilkins
George I. Williams
Henry Williams
John Williams
John R. Williams
Robert H. Williams
Samuel M. Williams 
Solomon Williams
Thomas Williams
Zadock Woods 

External links

  • A map of Austin Colony grants in Brazoria County, Texas
    Brazoria County, Texas
    Brazoria County[p] is a county in the U.S. state of Texas, located on the Gulf Coast within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. Regionally, parts of the county are within the extreme southern-most fringe of the regions locally known as Southeast Texas. Brazoria County is among a...

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