Sons of De Witt

This month 1827-1835--Mexican Citizens on the Guadalupe The Idyllic Years "Art. 1. All Foreigners, who...in virtue of the general law of 1824...which guarantees the security of their persons and property in the territory of the Mexican Nation, wish to remove to any of the settlements of the state of Coahuila y Tejas are at liberty to do so; and the said State invites and calls them."--Colonization Law 1824 They too drank of the waters of the "Old Blue Guadalupe" and thought it a good place to live despite the wilderness and the marauding Indians---Elizabeth Davis, 1831 Old Station on the La Baca---Conflict with De Leon---Loyalty to Mexico---1828 Census---Gonzales Town---The Ayuntamiento---Daily Life "At De Witt's Station we were kindly received by Colonel De Witt, his family and settlers. Here I made the acquaintance of Hon. James Kerr....the ground thus prepared and planted will yield twenty-five or thirty, sometimes forty, bushels [corn] per acre. ...as to meat, game was abundant...Indians were assured of the peaceful and friendly disposition of the colonists...were invited to the station, and there feasted on bread, meat and milk...Carankawa Indians... a noble looking race of men...best bowmen in America--Frank Johnson in History of Texas and Texans "Men talked hopefully of the future; children reveled in the novelty of the present; but the women---ah, there was where the situation bore heaviest. As one old lady remarked, Texas was 'a heaven for men and dogs, but a hell for women and oxen.'"--Noah Smithwick in Early Days in Texas

La Colonia de DeWittde Coahuila y Tejas Republica Federal de Mejico

"Art. 1. All Foreigners, who...in virtue of the general law of 1824...which guarantees the security of their persons and property in the territory of the Mexican Nation, wish to remove to any of the settlements of the state of Coahuila y Tejas are at liberty to do so; and the said State invites and calls them."--Mexican Law 1824 Parts of Caldwell, Comal, DeWitt, Fayette, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Hays, Jackson, Lavaca, Victoria and Wilson Counties1700-1846 "beginning at the right bank of Arroyo de la Vaca at a distance of the reserved ten leagues from the coast, adjoining the colony of Stephen Austin on the east, the line shall go up the river to the Bejar-Nacogdoches road; it shall follow this road until it reaches a point two leagues to the west of Guadalupe River; thence it shall run parallel with the river down to the Paraje de las Mosquitos; and following the inner edge of the ten league coast reservation, it shall close the boundaries of the grant at the point of the beginning."