WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1844
546
and get them to have a letter written to him about their present condition, &c., as he will be anxious to hear particularly from them. Sam Houston. 1 Pa,pers on Indian Affwi.?-s, also Exec.utive Record Book, No. 40, p. 323, Texas State Library. 2 Hayden Edwards, the Elder, was born in Stafford County, Virginia, in 1770, but removed to Kentucky with his parents while still a young boy. In Kentucky he was liberally educated and became a man of large means. In about 1815, he carried his family and slaves to Mississippi and opened up a large plantation on the Pearl River. Early in 1822 he moved his family to Louisiana, where he left them while he went to Mexico City to petition for a large grant of land in East Texas, and empersario rights to settle 800 families. For various reasons the perfect.ing of this grant was held up until April 18, 1825, at which time he obtained a contract from ' ·the state of Coahuila and Texas to settle a colony in East Texas. See E. C. Barker, Life of Stephen F. Austin, 168. A considerable part of the territory granted to him had already been occupied by Spanish and Mexican settlers and squatters, consequently, friction soon arose which he was not able to allay. These conflicts finally resulted in what is known as the "Fredonian War," the annulment of Edward's contract (October 2, 1826), and his expulsion from Texas. He died in 1848, leaving a family of thirteen chil- dren, and a considerable number of grandchildren. A son, Hayden H. Edwards, the younger, at a later time represented the Nacogdoches district in the Eighth Congress, and later still in the state legislature; he was also a member of the Secession Convention in 1861. This Hayden Edwards, the younger, is evidently the man to whom Houston wrote this letter. See Foote, Texas and Texans, I, 250-256. Yoakum, H-istory of Texas, I, 215. Thrall, A Pictoria.l History of Texas, 531-532. Brown, A History of Texas, I, 137-139. Z. T. Fulmore, The History and Geography of Texas as Told in County Nam.es, 44-45. E. C. Barker, Life of Stephen F. Austin, 140-149 passim. E. W. Winkler (ed.), Journal of the Secession Convention of Texas, 1861, pp. 14, 27, 205, 413, 324, 401.
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