Henri Castro
| Henri Castro | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | July 1786 Bayonne, France |
| Died | November 3, 1865 (aged 79) Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico |
| Resting place | St. Louis Cemetery Castroville, Texas |
| Known for | Empresario colonization of Republic of Texas |
| Spouse(s) | Amelia Mathias |
Henri Castro (1786 – November 3, 1865), a Jewish Texan, was one of the most important empresarios of the Republic of Texas.
Castro, who was born in Bayonne, France, was a French diplomat of Portuguese-Jewish descent. He later immigrated to the United States and became an American citizen in 1827. In 1838, he worked as a banker in France and sought to secure a loan for the young Republic of Texas. He was then appointed as consul general for Texas by President Sam Houston. He recruited hundreds of families for emigration to Texas. Most came primarily from the Haut-Rhin region of Alsace, in northeastern France. They traveled to Texas from 1843 to 1847 and settled in the Medina River valley, just west of San Antonio. The city of Castroville on the Medina River is named for him, as is Castro County in the Texas Panhandle. Castro himself settled for a time in Castroville.
The Republic of Texas issued colonization land grants with individuals, conditional upon said individuals establishing settlements in a stated geographical area of Texas. The grants were limited to a given time period in which colonization had to take place.
On February 15, 1842, Castro, in temporary partnership with Jean Jassaud, was issued two land grants by the Republic of Texas. The grants were for the colonization of 600 families (with an option to increase that number to 1000) in three years. The first 200 families had to be settled by August 15, 1843. One grant was approximately 600,000 acres, near what is now Starr County, along the Rio Grande. Castro would not be seen fulfilling the colonization of this grant. The other grant totaled 1,250,000 acres, west of San Antonio and included the counties of Atascosa, Frio, La Salle, Medina, and McMullen. This second grant would result in what came to be known as Castro's Colony.
...
Wikipedia