Erasmo Seguin
By: Julia & Lucilla
Mexican government, Economic conditions, settlers in the settlement, Completion of the settlement plan
Biography
From 1807 until 1835, Seguín served as head postmaster of San Antonio, Texas. After Mexico gained independence from spain.He helped to draft the Constitution of 1824 and was a major influence in the addition of a general colonization provision. Seguín assisted Stephen F. Austin in choosing land for the first colony of American settlers to immigrate to Texas. Seguín married María Josefa Becerra, daughter of a noncomissioned officer from Presidio La Bahía (Goliad, Texas), stationed at Bexar; unusually for the times, Becerra could read and write. The couple had three children; two, including Juan Seguín, survived to adulthood. Erasmo Seguín helped to create the first public school in Bexar, which his son attended. Although the Seguín family lived in Bexar, on the south side of Main Plaza facing Nueva (between current Main and Dwyer), they also owned a ranch of 22,000 acres (8,900 ha) located 30 miles (48 km) from Bexar in present Karnes County. The land had been purchased from the Missión San Antonio de Valero after its securalization. The ranch was named La Mora, and by 1810 Seguín employed five vaqueros to work it. After 1824, he added a 9,000 acres (3,600 ha) ranch near present-day Floresville. He made the estate a home; it would become known as "Casa Blanca". Here, Seguín raised animals and farmed cotton and corn.