10/19/2026
A little Island history
How Moses Austin shaped The Island
By Greg Smith
There were four men who shaped Texas, Nueces County and The Island.
Each shared common characteristics; they wanted to earn large fortunes, they had great dreams, yet their wallets were smaller than their visions, they were very persuasive and they got things done. Three called themselves Colonels serving the Mexican War, the War Between the States and World War I. All had spines of steel to take on the physical and financial risks that their lives and ventures entailed. These four pioneer land promoters are; Moses Austin, the father of the father of Texas, Stephen Austin, Henry Kinney, Corpus Christi’s founder, Eliha Ropes, the first to promote Mustang Island and Sam Robertson, Padre’s first land promoter and developer.
The Austins
The first promoter was Moses Austin. It was his son Stephen Austin that brought the original 300 families to Texas that started the United States and European settlement of Texas. Prior to that Texas was wild country with only the Spanish outposts of San Antonio, La Bahia, Nacogdoches and Laredo. The total Spanish speaking population in 1810 was less than 5,000. Moses Austin was about to put a change to that.
Moses was born in 1761 in Connecticut. As a young man he moved to Richmond and went into the mercantile business. Looking for further opportunity he acquired in 1790 a lead mining concession in far West Virginia from that state. Moses partnered up with his brother Stephen and other investors and took what had been a crude and depleted mine and brought modern methods and investment, tripling the output from its old highs. Austin, being the persuasive salesman and concerned with dropping lead prices as production increased, convinced the Feds to place a tariff on cheap imported lead. Although the mine was producing more lead than ever, the cost of production went up even higher. The mine had become a boat for Austin and partners, a bottomless hole to pour money in. In 1796 brother Stephen traveled to London to try to sell the mine or find more investors. On landing in England he was thrown in debtor’s prison for unpaid debts that the mine had incurred. At the same time the US tariff expired on lead, cutting the price in half.
Back to the U.S.
For Moses it was time to move on and hearing of great lead deposits in New Spain he sold what assets he could and loaded up the family in wagons and headed for what is now Missouri. The deposits were rich and Moses immediately started securing claims from the government of Spain. He received a Spanish passport and promised the Crown to bring new settlement to the area for consideration of mining rights. He eventually received 4,428 acres of land. Like the Virginia operation Moses brought in modern methods, new settlers and investment to his project. Money flowed in from increased production and Moses was back on top. He built a fine home, sent his son Stephen back east to boarding school and invested in other ventures.
During this time Missouri was transferred to France in 1800 and then sold to the United States in 1803 keeping Moses busy protecting his title as different bureaucrats took over. By 1820 the same problems that plagued his first mining venture caught up to his Missouri operations. Moses found himself out of cash and in foreclosure and looking for the next venture. His eyes turned south to Texas.
On to Texas
In both Virginia and Missouri Austin brought in settlers and built a community for them. His next money making plan was to convince the Spanish authorities in Texas to grant him land with the promise to bring in families to develop those unsettled spaces. In November of 1820 he set out with a servant for San Antonio walking through Indian country on poorly marked trails in an untamed land. On arriving in San Antonio he was greeted with disdain since the authorities were concerned about encroachment from the United States. Undeterred he convinced the Governor that he was loyal to Spain by the fact the he had a Spanish passport and had been a good citizen of Spain during the years that Missouri was Spanish controlled.
After receiving a favorable letter from the local officials he set out for Louisiana with his servant in the company of another party. It was late in December and after a falling out with his traveling companions they split up leaving Moses on foot and with no supplies for the journey back to the US. After eight days of travel without food and in freezing January weather the 59 year old Moses arrived back at civilization. He was bed ridden for several weeks recovering from the ordeal.
Once back in Missouri he was faced with the mountain of financial problems he had left behind. Times were so hard that son Stephen was sending money just so his mother could buy coffee and other necessities. It was Moses' dreams of Texas and the $18,000 dollars he had planned to make selling land to settlers that kept him going. Three months after leaving Texas he received word that Mexico City approved this plan and he was back in the game. He tried to convince his son to join in the venture but Stephen was content as a successful attorney in New Orleans.
Austin had not fully recovered from his travel ordeal from San Antonio and took back to bed. His wife called in the best doctor around and the prescription was a good bleeding that was common for that time. Sick and drained of blood three days later he was dead at the age of 60. Mary Austin wrote and convinced their son Stephen F. Austin to take up the Spanish land grant and dream of his dad, the colonization of Texas. This he did and Texas saw an influx of settlement that continued until the Mexican authorities closed the door to Anglo immigration in 1831.
Although Moses Austin never saw Padre Island it was his perseverance, dreams and persuasive power that opened the door for the settlement of Texas from immigrants from the United States and Europe. They arrived on the coastline as opposed to the Mexican settlers who were coming up by land from the South. If Austin had not opened up this short window that led to the Texas revolution and Independence in 1836 the map of the US would be much different than today. The border would not have been the Rio Grande but a river much farther north. The flag of the Padre and Mustang would be the green, white and red banner with an eagle and snake and folks would be complaining about how Mexico City doesn’t pay attention to us rather than Washington D.C.
Moses Austin
