The name of William Barret Travis (1809-1836) evokes the romance and legends of early Western history when adventurers and empresarios forged the independent Republic of Texas. Two legal documents written on two sides of a single sheet, as was the custom, acquired at an auction directly relate, to a number of personalities who were intimately involved in this early Texas history. What adds to the remarkable document is that it was penned on both sides by Travis in February, 1831 during the period he had served as a lawyer in Anahuac and San Felipe de Austin on the Brazos river. The Decree of April 6, 1830 and new restrictions put into place by the Mexican government to restrict Anglo-American immigration into Texas posed significant barriers for new arriving lawyers. And merchants. Most of these individuals, including Travis who had arrived in 1831 from Alabama had no legal right to work. 2 As the cauldron of insurrection simmered, the document shows that Travis practiced his profession in San Felipe de Austin where he would resettle the following year. The first side of the document is a settlement claim by
John Austin (1801-1833) brought against Joshua Parker (1790-1838).
Distantly related to Stephen Austin, John Austin aided him in settling the original colonists and became constable of the district of San Felipe de Austin in 1824. He would become alcalde of Brazoria Municipality in 1832 and participated in the Anahuac Disturbances during the same year. It was John Austin who commanded at the battle of Velasco. Launching a successful two pronged attack from a ship and from land, Johnson received Col. Domingo deUgartechea's surrender of the fort. He later signed the Turtle Bayou Resolutions, and would be elected Brigadier General of militia. It is not known what further military or political stature he would have attained with the outbreak of revolution. John Austin died the next year in a cholera epidemic which also took the lives of his two children.
Joshua Parker was one of Stephen Austin's original "Old Three Hundred Colonists". An aquaintance of William B. Travis, Parker was a fanner and stockman with a record of quarrels. He was listed in 1830 as one of the people who had to comply with the conditions of their grants or have their land sold by the ayuntamiento of San Felipe.
The first side of the document is signed by three other prominent and historic personalities. Francis White Johnson (1799-1884) signs the document as alcalde, a position he had held for the year 1831. The following year, he became a company captain during the battle of Anahuac. In 1835, Johnson was appointed Adjutant and Inspector General under Stephen Austin and Edward Burleson. In 1835, he led a column in the battle for San Antonio, and at Ben Milam's death, essentially accepted the Mexican surrender (although Burleson would return to assume control again), and became the first actual Texas-American revolutionary in command of the Alamo. In spite of opposition from Sam Houston and Governor Henry Smith, Johnson made plans in January, 1836 to invade Mexico at Matamoros. The ill-fated expedition resulted in the capture or death of all but Johnson and four others. From 1873 to the end of his life, Johnson became the founding
president of the Texas Veterans Association.
A second signature is that of Nathaniel Townsend (1804-1864), merchant and diplomat for the Republic of Texas. Townsend established a thriving business in San Felipe de Austin which was burned with the arrival of the Mexican army in March, 1836. After independence, Townsend was named in 1837 as consul for the Republic of Texas in New Orleans by Sam Houston. During the Civil War, he returned to his native New York where he died from illness. The last signature is that of Shubael Marsh (?-1868), who was also one of Stephen Austin's "Old Three Hundred" colonists. Marsh took the oath of loyalty to the Mexican government during April, 1824 and acquired land in what is now Brazoria County. In 1830, he was appointed to collect
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