Stephen Fuller Austin (November 3, 1793 – December 27, 1836) was an American-born empresario, i.e. a person granted the right to settle on land in exchange for recruiting and taking responsibility for settling the eastern areas of the Tejas region of Mexico in the early nineteenth century. Known as the "Father of Texas" and the founder of Anglo Texas, he led the second and, ultimately, the successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families and their slaves from the United States in 1825.
Born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri, Austin served in the Missouri territorial legislature. He moved to Arkansas Territory and later to Louisiana. His father, Moses Austin, received an empresario grant from Spain to settle Texas. After Moses Austin died in 1821, Stephen Austin won recognition of the empresario grant from the newly independent nation of Mexico.
Austin attracted numerous Anglo-American settlers to move to Texas, and by 1825, Austin had brought the first 300 American families into the territory. Throughout the 1820s, Austin sought to maintain good relations with the Mexican government and helped suppress the Fredonian Rebellion.