Stephen F. Austin’s “Old 300” Collection

Collection

Identifier: THR/01/2014.s067

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection was purchased and donated by James L. Britton, III. These thirty documents contain original papers signed by a number of Stephen F. Austin’s original settlers, among Texas’ earliest Anglo immigrants. These early settlers were referred to as the “Old 300.” The collection includes writs of partition, estate documents, summons, collection fees, guardian bonds and other documents. The earliest document pertains to Abraham Alley, who settled in 1822. One of the later papers was signed by Norman Woods, who perished in prison following his capture during the Mier Expedition, famed for the “Black Bean” episode. Some of the names include Robert Brotherton, Jesse Burnam, Horatio Chriesman, William B. Dewees, John W. Hall, and Elisha Roberts, who was one of the founders of San Augustine.

Dates

1831 - 1854
Undated

Conditions Governing Use

The materials represented in this finding aid have been made available for research, teaching and private use. For these purposes, you may reproduce (print, make photocopies, or download) these items without prior permission on the condition that you provide proper attribution of the source in all copies.

Please contact the Newton Gresham Library's Special Collections and University Archives department to request permissions to reproduce materials for any other purpose, or to obtain information regarding the copyright status of a particular digital image, text, audio or video recording.

Extent

1 boxes

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

The Stephen F. Austin’s “Old 300” Collection is housed in one (1) flat archival box and is located in archival storage / fire safe. It is made up of 30 items that are arranged in chronological order by the creator’s last name. These materials are dated between 1831 and 1854. The “SHH #” is a unique code containing bracketed letters and numbers that follow the organizational pattern set during a grant funded digitization project called Texas Tides. The first letters in the brackets represent Sam Houston State University and are followed by the item’s identifying sequence, often correlating to a collection or sub-collection as delineated during the Texas Tides digitization process as well as the item number. For example, in the SHH # structure here [SHH III:3], SHH indicates Sam Houston State University, III indicates the third sub-collection and 3 indicates the item number within sub-collection III.