{{Short description|American wife of Moses Austin}} '''Mary Brown Austin''' (1768–1824) was a moving force in the history of the early settlment of Angol-Americans in Texas. She was the wife of Moses Austin and mother of Stephen F. Austin. She wrote a letter to Stephen asking him to carry out the dying wish of his father that Stephen follow through with the empresario grants for land settlement in Texas.<ref name="HOT">{{Handbook of Texas|id=fau11|name=Austin, Mary Brown|date=June 9, 2010|author=David B. Gracy II|retrieved=December 26, 2015}}</ref>
==Family== Mary Brown was born to Abia Brown and Margaret (nee Sharp) Brown, at Sharpsborough Furnace, New Jersey, on January 1, 1768.<ref name="HOT"/> She had eight siblings and she lived the longest.<ref name="HOT"/>
After the death of her mother, Abia asked Benjamin Fuller, the husband of one of Margaret Sharp Brown's sisters, to board Mary Brown and one of her sisters.<ref name="HOT"/>
Mary Brown Austin was the mother of Stephen F. Austin and Emily Austin Perry, James Elijah Brown Austin, and wife of Moses Austin. Her grandchildren include Guy Morrison Bryan, Stephen Samuel Perry, William Joel Bryan, and Moses Austin Bryan. Her daughter Emily was first married to James Bryan and later to James F. Perry.
==Death== thumb|right|Tomb of Moses and Maria Brown Austin in Potosi, Missouri Mary is buried in Potosi, Missouri, alongside her husband who founded Potosi.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.romeofthewest.com/2008/02/this-is-tomb-of-moses-austin-1761-1821.html|title=Photo of the tomb of Moses Austin|work=Rome of the West|date=February 18, 2008|accessdate=December 26, 2015}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}} *Eugene C. Barker, ed., The Austin Papers (3 vols., Washington: GPO, 1924–28). David B. Gracy II, Moses Austin: His Life (San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 1987).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Mary Brown}} Category:1768 births Category:1824 deaths Category:People from Sussex County, New Jersey Category:People from Potosi, Missouri Category:19th-century American women writers