James Hewetson (c. 1797–1870) was a

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

empresario An empresario () was a person who had been granted the right to settle on land in exchange for recruiting and taking responsibility for settling the eastern areas of Coahuila y Tejas in the early nineteenth century. The word in Spanish for entrep ...

''.

Early life

Hewetson was born in

Thomastown Thomastown (), historically known as Grennan, is a town in County Kilkenny in the province of Leinster in the south-east of Ireland. It is a market town along a stretch of the River Nore which is known for its salmon and trout, with a number of ...

, County

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in 1797, the son of Patrick and Honora (née Hoyne). After studying medicine, Hewitson emigrated to the United States.

Early career in Coahuila

Already set on moving from the United States to Mexico, Hewetson encountered

Stephen F. Austin Stephen Fuller Austin (November 3, 1793 – December 27, 1836) was an American-born empresario. Known as the "Father of Texas" and the founder of Anglo Texas,Hatch (1999), p. 43. he led the second and, ultimately, the successful colonization ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. Hewetson followed Austin to

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

and then was among those who accompanied Austin's first visit to Texas in 1821. Hewetson parted ways with Austin at

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and continued further on into Mexico, eventually settling at

Saltillo Saltillo () is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Coahuila and is also the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. Mexico City, Monterrey, and Saltillo are all connected by a major railroad and highwa ...

and

Monclova Monclova (), is a city and the seat of the surrounding municipality of the same name in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. According to the 2015 census, the city had 231,107 inhabitants. Its metropolitan area has 381,432 inhabitants and ...

Coahuila Coahuila (), formally Coahuila de Zaragoza (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza), is one of the 32 states of Mexico. Coahuila borders the Mexican states of N ...

. Hewetson was involved in various mining, manufacturing, and mercantile businesses, as well as with local government in Coahuila.

''Empresario''

Hewetson and James Power partnered as ''empresarios'' in 1826 to establish a colony in Texas. After forming the partnership, Power and Hewetson applied to be ''empresarios'' with the Mexican government in 1825 in order to begin a colony on the Texas coast with Mexican and Irish families. The original 1826 application requested a grant between the Nueces and Sabine Rivers, but in 1828, the Mexican government instead offered the strip of land between the Guadalupe and

Lavaca River The Lavaca River ( ) is a navigable river in the U.S. state of Texas. It begins in the northeastern part of Gonzales County, and travels generally southeast for until it empties into Lavaca Bay, which is a component of Matagorda Bay. History T ...

s. The next year, Power and Hewetson requested more land and their holdings were extended west to the

Nueces River The Nueces River is a river in the U.S. state of Texas, about long. It drains a region in central and southern Texas southeastward into the Gulf of Mexico. It is the southernmost major river in Texas northeast of the Rio Grande. ''Nueces'' ...

, which included Nuestra Señora del Refugio Mission. Ownership disputes with other ''empresarios'' forced Power and Hewetson to cede some land east of the Guadalupe River and the new eastern boundary was drawn at Coleto Creek. In 1833, Power returned to Ireland and searched for potential settlers of his colony. He convinced 350 individuals to travel with him to Texas to begin a settlement with promises of large plots of land. The immigrants traveled in two group with the first scheduled to land in New Orleans in April and the next scheduled for May. After the first group arrived in New Orleans, many of the settlers were struck with

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

and died. An additional lot were infected with cholera during the voyage from New Orleans to Texas, and died at the landing in Copano. These who survived either remained in Copano or traveled to the Refugio Mission, where they formed a settlement with Mexican colonists. In 1835, Hewetson sold his share of the ''empresario'' to Power and returned to Mexico. The land claims were eventually deemed invalid by the new

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Mex ...

and designated as property of the state.

Later life and death

On April 29, 1833, Hewetson married Josefa Guajardo, a wealthy widow. Hewetson remained in Coahuila throughout the Texas Revolution, in which he took no part. Hewetson died in Saltillo on September 12, 1870.

Notes

References

Hobart Huson, "HEWETSON, JAMES," Handbook of Texas Online, accessed July 07, 2012. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hewetson, James 1797 births 1870 deaths Irish-American history and culture in Texas People from Thomastown Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923) Irish-American history