Green Dewitt
BY: Jill,Ari,and Emily
Eyewitness
In this link we have a letter from a eyewitness. This letter was for Green Dewitt...
Contact Ari for translation
http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth216656/
Biography
- Born Feb 12, 1787
- Died May 18, 1835
- He lived for 48 years
- Born in Kentucky
- Married Sarah Seely in 1808
- Fought in war of 1812
- He had 3 sons and 4 daughters
- In 1827 he joined Stephen Austin and Dleon signing a peace treaty for the Karankawa so they would not be raided
- 1831 when his colony was becoming a success
- Was arrested for claiming tobacco
- Died from Cholera
Was his settlement a SUCCESS or FAILURE??
Overall he failed, but he succeed for a while until 1830 when the Mexican government passed a law that meant no one from that point forward could move to Texas. Stephen F Austin was able to get Dewitt around the law and secured a waver, but Dewitt failed at meting the terms of the contract.
Dewitt's Colony
When and why did Green Dewitt want a settlement?
The first settlers to ever come to his settlement came around 1825. He brought in around 400 families to his settlement. These families had to be respectable and catholic in order to come and live in his settlement. The reason Dewitt wanted the land was simple. All Empresarios wanted land because of this reason. HE wanted land that was under the Spanish rule, but he wanted to keep the land fight AGAINST the Spanish.
Problems with Dewitt's Colony
In his colony there were lots goverment disputes of what and what couldn't do. Also his colony had got into fights about who owned the land and if it was fair or not. Food and water were a dilema of how much the colony was alloud to have and where they could get it.
How geography impacted the colony?
Sometimes food was hard to get or a little a time because of the little vegetation on some parts of the area. Also due to location, winters are cool and mild as summers are hot!