By: Ernesto Rodriguez, III, Alamo Associate Curator
In 1820, while in San Antonio to ask for permission to establish a colony in Texas, Moses Austin ran into an old friend — Baron de Bastrop. Who was this man with a fictitious title of nobility and why was he instrumental in the colonization of Texas?
Born in Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana, on November 23, 1759, Philip Hendrik Nering Bögel was an unlikely figure to help pave the way for American immigration into New Spain and Mexico. As a young man, Philip joined the military in Holland as a member of the cavalry. Upon leaving the military, he was appointed as a tax collector for the Friesland, where he lived with his wife Georgine and his five children. Following an embezzlement charge while serving as tax collector, Philip left Holland and relocated in Spanish Louisiana sometime around 1795. Upon his arrival in Spanish Louisiana, Philip introduced himself as Felipe Enrique Neri, el Baron de Bastrop, a Dutch nobleman.
At the time of Bastrop’s arrival in Spanish Louisiana, Spain was struggling to maintain control of its territory in the Americas and the Governor of Louisiana was fighting the westward movement of Americans into his territory. Bastrop proposed to bring European immigrants into the area to create a buffer zone. The governor was willing to take a risk on Bastrop, and June 21, 1796 approved Bastrop’s colonization enterprise.
Bastrop requested twelve square leagues, the equivalent of 846,291 acres, of land for his settlement in the Ouachita Valley, near the present day city of Monroe, Louisiana. Bastrop’s goal was to have settlers plant wheat, which he would then mill for them at a set price. Upon the arrival of his colonists on the Ouachita Valley, Bastrop headed to New Orleans to seek permission to build mills, but the Spanish government could no longer afford to help support the project as they had promised. Bastrop went on to establish many partnerships in mercantile enterprises hoping to make a fortune. Unfortunately, due to the many lawsuits Bastrop was involved in, these partnerships proved unsuccessful and left him bankrupt. With the sale of the Louisiana territory to the United States, Bastrop decided to head west to Spanish Texas.
Bastrop arrived in Texas and settled in San Antonio. He ran a freighting business and at one time served on the ayuntamiento (town council). In 1820, Bastrop helped change the history of Texas forever, by aiding Moses Austin get a contract to bring colonists into Spanish Texas. When Moses Austin first arrived in San Antonio requesting permission to colonize, his petition was denied by Govenor Antonio Martinez. Bastrop, who had previously met Ausin in New Orleans, intervened on Austin’s behalf and Austin’s petition was granted. Moses did not live long enough to see his efforts come to fruition, he died several months later after contracting pneumonia. His son Stephen F. Ausin, however, honored his father’s dying wish and took control of his father’s proposed colony. As a result of Bastrop’s intercession on Moses’s behalf and his continued aid to Stephen, he was appointed land commissioner with authority to issue land certificates in Stephen Austin’s colony.
A few years later, Bastrop was selected to be a representative in the new state legislature of Coahuila y Texas and helped secure the Mexican state’s colonization act of 1825, the law which set conditions and incentives for immigration to Texas. He also aided in the establishment of the port of Galveston. Bastrop died on February 23, 1827 without enough money to cover his funeral expenses. Donations for his funeral were given by his fellow legislators and Bastrop was laid to rest in Saltillo.
