Don Martin De Leon

After independence from Spain, Mexico utilized the Empresario System to settle the province of Texas with loyal citizens. Seeing his opportunity, Don Martin de Leon applied on April 8, 1824, to the provincial delegation of San Fernando de Bexar for an Empresario Grant. Just five days later, he received his grant which, of all Texas Empresarios, was second only to Stephen F. Austin’s in terms of success and helped carve the central Texas gulf coast out of the wilderness.

Don Martin de Leon was born in Cruillas, Nuevo Santander (modern-day Tamaulipas), Nueva Espana. Around 1790, he joined the military and reached the rank of captain. In 1795, he married Dona Patricia de la Garza. Between 1798 and 1801, the family moved to Texas and established the Rancho Santa Margarita near present-day San Patricio. The family experienced many difficult times during an arduous political era in Texas, even leaving the rancho to escape upheaval from the war for independence from Spain. He returned to Texas in 1814 and settled closer to La Bahia.

In 1824, his petition for an empresario grant was approved and he established Guadalupe Victoria which included people from a range of nationalities. In 1831, his colony was expanded to include most of modern Calhoun County west of Matagorda Bay. A port was established near present-day Port Lavaca on Lavaca Bay which provided the colony crucial access to trade and supplies, and established the area as a viable shipping link to future generations. Don Martin de Leon died in a cholera epidemic that swept the U.S. he is remembered as a pioneer in the settlement of the Texas gulf coast.