Martin De Le'on
He was a Empresario!!!
Stuff about Martin De Le'on
Martin De Le'on was a wealthy Mexican rancher. He was born in 1765, and was raised as a wealthy boy. One of his many reasons to build the settlement in Texas was, he wanted to build his own church, and to spread Christianity all in the Americas. Once in Texas, he developed many new activities. In the year 1822 he was in new Orleans aboard a pirate ship. Martin showed he was trustworthy by leaving his son Felix had to leave his son aboard a pirate ship during his absence. Martin had 6 daughters and 4 sons. Martin died in the year 1833 at the age 68, while still in Texas. Back in Mexico his family was left with an estate of half a million dollars!!
Why and When he settled!!
April 3 1824, was the date Martin De Le'on started settling families. In total he settled 41 families in his new colony. The main reason Martin settled in Texas was that he wanted to have a ranch for his cattle, he also wanted to find more cattle. Eventually if they ever got enough cattle Martin wanted to start his own cattle business. On the way from Mexico to Texas he, his colonist, and his family went on a cattle drive. Once Martin was in Texas he did complete all of his "goals" counting the cattle business and actually he was know for his cattle business.
Fun Fact- Martins Branding symbol for his cattle and mustangs was an E" "J" connected, which means "Spirit of Jesus". Martins brand was recorded in "the Mexican archives" in 1807.
Identify any problems with..
· Mexican government-
Martin’s 1807 to 1809 petitions got denied from the Mexican government
· Economic conditions-
Had no problems because when he married his wife he got her family’s riches, and their wealth went to the settlement.
· Settlers in the settlement-
He really didn’t have any problems with the settlers, but he had 10 special settlers that he trusted the most and who conducted the bulk of the business and had direct charge of matter policy, defense against the Indians, and the general welfare of the community.
· Completion of their settlement plan-
A problem was that when he died his settlement was worth $500,000 there was really no problem though.Evaluate the success or failure of his settlement.
Success
Schools were established almost immediately, with only one teacher at a time. Some nights the colonists who brought with them different types of instruments, including the guitar, fiddle, and accordion, would play while others would dance. Also a church was quickly built, where weddings were held. At weddings there would be huge feast and more dancing to music! One of the greatest successes of Martin’s settlement is the area he settled in, was surrounded by cattle and wild mustangs. He found many different ways to capture them, and put them into fences.
Failure
As far as we know nothing failed. The only thing that was a problem at one point in time would be Indians. People were always on the watch for Indians and were very scared for their attacks!! Every time the Indians Martin would raise a white flag and butchered as many cows as needed to fill the Indians. Once the Indians were fed, they would go off until the next attack. After the same Indian tribe has attacked for a while Martin would get the Indians so drunk, they would drop dead!!
Identify geographic considerations of the location of each settlement which were problematic for the settlers or their leaders.
Before you can know about how their geography affected them you need to know the geography and more about their settlement!!
Geography & More- Martin’s cattle ranch was approximately 30,000 acres. The ranch is located on the exact landing place of La Salle, it is located in the Coastal region of Texas. The ranch was in an exact location so there was only a small island which divided his area from the Gulf of Mexico. There was plenty of deer, birds, and a never ending supply of fish to eat. The weather there was perfect, even some cacti and palm trees would grow seasonally. Also there is grass everywhere!!! The cattle has plenty of grass to eat year round.
This affects how the settlers live because, because their location is in the Coastal Plains, where there is a plentiful amount of fish to eat from the Gulf of Mexico. If the cattle ranch was placed in the Mountains and Basin area of Texas it would be harder to supply the cattle with grass and to supply the people with food. There would not be a water source that gives enough water for a growing population of people and animals.