In 1813, at the age of twenty-one, he was elected to the territorial Legislature of Missouri, and was reelected to that position each year until 1819, when he moved to Arkansas. Meanwhile, Stephen's father, Moses Austin, received a land grant in Texas, for purposes of colonization.
The elder Austin died soon after arriving in Texas, but bequeathed his grant to Stephen, with instructions to carry on to its successful completion. After many delays and frustrations with the Mexican government, Steven Austin introduced a large number of colonists from the United States. An unassuming man with a kindly presence, he was deeply respected by all, and achieved unparalleled influence over the often unruly settlers in Texas.
Austin is remembered for his many efforts on behalf of Texas before, during, and immediately after Texas' Revolution against the Mexican dictator. His contributions to Texas, among others, were: long and perilous pilgrimages to Mexico; his unwillingness to counsel his people to take up arms against the Mexican government as long as any hope for peace remained; his firm and decided voice of encouragement and hope, during the darkest days of the revolution; and his laborious trips to the United States, to obtain needed support for his struggling countrymen.
After devoting the best years of his life to the cause of Texas, Austin was overcome by disease and on December 27, 1836 he died at the early age of forty-three years.
At the outbreak of the second war with England, Houston enlisted as a private soldier, and was made sergeant of a company. He did well in the military and quickly won the admiration of his men and his superiors. After receiving three near-lethal wounds at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, he rose to the rank of first lieutenant before resigning in 1818 to study law.
Soon after that, he was admitted to the bar and practiced in Lebanon, Tennessee before running for public office. He was elected to the US Congress in 1823 and again in 1825. In 1827, Houston became Governor of Tennessee by a great majority vote.
As Governor, after a brief marriage that ended in divorce, Houston quietly resigned from Tennessee politics and went back to live with his longtime friends, the Cherokees. There, he stayed until 1832, when he moved to Texas, along with a few friends.
In Texas, Houston was elected to be the delegate from Nacogdoches for the Convention of 1833, which met in San Felipe. It was at that time that Houston began to be a prominent player in the affairs of Texas. In 1835 he was appointed general of the military district east of the Trinity. He became a member of the Consultation of 1835, and of the Convention which met in Washington-on-the -Brazos in 1836 to declare Texas' independence from Mexico. There Houston was elected Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of Texas.
Houston immediately took control of the Texas forces after the fall of the Alamo and Goliad, and conducted the retreat of the army to the site of the Battle of San Jacinto, where on April 21, 1836, his force defeated Santa Anna and secured Texas' long-sought independence.
In the fall of that same year, Houston was elected to be the first President of the Republic of Texas. After serving his term as President, he served in the Congress of the Republic from 1839 to 1840. Then in 1841, Houston was again voted by a large margin to head the Texas republic.
After the unlawful annexation in 1845, Houston was elected Senator from Texas to the Congress of the United States. Still later, in 1859, Houston was elected to serve as Governor of the State of Texas.
As Governor in 1861, Houston was strongly opposed to the secession of Texas from the Union. Because he was so much in the minority on this issue, Houston was removed from office in March of 1861, ending his long carrier in public service.
Houston retired to the privacy of his home at Huntsville, Texas, where died in July of 1863. He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery.
Susana was born in central Tennessee about 1814, as Susana Wilkerson. When she was only fifteen, she married Almaron Dickinson in Hardeman County, Tennessee. Within the next two years, the young couple arrived in Texas and settled near Gonzales, in the colony of impresario Green DeWitt. Their only child, Angelina, was born there late in the year 1834.
After the Battle of Gonzales, which marked the beginning of the Texas Revolution in the fall of 1835, Almaron joined a group of volunteers to help secure San Antonio for the Texans. Susana stayed behind with Angelina. But after her home was looted a few weeks later, she decided to join her husband in San Antonio. When Santa Anna's army approached the town in February of 1836, the family moved into the Alamo.
After the fall of the Alamo, Susana, was interviewed by Santa Anna and then she and her infant daughter Angelina were released with a message to Sam Houston. After heading east from San Antonio, they were met by Deaf Smith and Henry Karnes, who were scouts for the Texas army. They were taken to meet Houston in Gonzales.
Illiterate and still only twenty-two years old when Texas independence was won, Susana requested a $500 government donation, but it was denied. She married Francis Williams in late 1837, but was divorced by March 24 of the following spring. After three more unfortunate marriages and accusations of living in a brothel, Susana entered a stable marriage with Joseph Hannig in 1857.
The happy couple soon moved to Austin, where Hannig ran a successful cabinet shop and furniture store. Susana died on October 7, 1883, and was buried in Austin. Even though Hannig married again after Susana's death, he was buried next to her when he died in 1890.
