Institute of Texan Cultures' Texans Series
The Anglo-Americans were people who moved from the United States to Texas. They spoke English. Their parents or ancestors had come from northern Europe to America.
Most of the Anglo-Americans did not come to Texas in large groups. Often families came alone. Many families traveled in covered wagons. Some of them tacked signs which said “G.T.T. – Gone to Texas” to the doors of the cabins they left.
Early Anglo-American settlers in Texas had to “make do” with what they had or found around them. Many of them had spent all of their money to buy land and pay for their journey. They did not have money to buy houses, food, or clothes. They built their homes with what they could find: trees, stones, river can, sod or mud.
They got their food by hunting and picking berries and nuts. The children learned to spin and weave to help make cloth from cotton and wool. Almost everything was handmade. The settlers became very good at creating tools and toys, clothes and new kinds of food from what they had. They used everything. Scraps of cloth were made into quilts. Scraps of food were fed to animals. “Waste not, want not,” they said.
Handbook of Texas
- Anglo-American ColonizationThis web page details the efforts of Anglo-Americans to colonize Texas during Mexican rule, which culminated with the Texas Revolution.
Colonization through Annexation
- Anglo-American Colonization GalleryThis online exhibition contains digital copies of documents pertaining to the Anglo-American colonization efforts.
Selected Histories
- De Witt Colony of Texas byCall Number: F389 .L94
Historic Sites
- Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic SiteThe General Convention, which would decide the fate of Texas, met at Washington in March 1836. People revere Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site as the site of the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836. Thereafter, despite great personal risk, the delegates continued meeting until they had drafted a constitution and established the new nation’s first lasting government.
Washington remained a town of some prominence in early Texas until the eve of the Civil War. The park encompasses the site of the historic town. Washington was the first county seat of Washington County in 1836, the capital of Texas from 1842 to 1845, and the home of the last president of the Republic of Texas, Anson Jones. Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site, the seat of Texas Independence, is the center each year for the Texas Independence Day Celebration, under the direction of the Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park Association.