Father of Texas

Stephen F. Austin
Stephen F. Austin (by an unidentified artist)
Born	Stephen Fuller Austin November 3, 1793 Wythe County, Virginia, United States, present-day Austinville, Virginia
Died	December 27, 1836(1836-12-27) (aged 43) West Columbia, Texas
Nationality	American
Occupation	empresario
Known for	the "Father of Texas"
Parent(s)	Moses Austin, Mary Brown Austin
Relatives	Richard Austin (colonist)

Stephen Fuller Austin (November 3, 1793 – December 27, 1836) was an American empresario born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri. Known as the "Father of Texas", and the founder of Texas, he led the second, and ultimately successful, colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States to the region in 1825. In addition, he worked with the Mexican government to support emigration from the United States. He was also granted Mexican nationality when settling Texas.

Numerous places and institutions are named in his honor, including the capital of Texas, Austin in Travis County, Austin County, Austin Bayou, Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Austin College in Sherman, and a number of K-12 schools.

Stephen F. Austin was born in the mining region of southwestern Virginia (Wythe County) in what is known as Austinville today, some 256 miles (412 km) southwest of Richmond, Virginia. He was the second child of Moses Austin and Mary Brown Austin; the first, Eliza, lived only one month. On June 8, 1798, when Stephen was four years old, his family moved west to the lead-mining region of present-day Potosi, Missouri, 40 miles west of the Mississippi River. His father Moses Austin received a sitio from the Spanish government for the mining site of Mine à Breton, established by French colonists. His great-great-grandfather Anthony Austin (b.1636) (son of Richard Austin b.1598) in Bishopstoke, Hampshire, England, he and his wife Esther were original settlers of Suffield, Massachusetts which became Connecticut in 1749.