Stephen F. Austin: The Father of Texas

Stephen F. Austin

Stephen Fuller Austin grew up in a family of risk-takers. When he was older, he took his own risk in leading the first American colony in Texas. Austin had to recruit American settlers and work with the Mexican government to make his colony successful. He was careful to choose colonist who were hard workers and honest. But by the 1830s, tensions between American colonists and Mexico erupted into war. Austin helped lead the fight for independence in the Texas Revolution.