Austin, Jan. 8, 1831
Dear Sir,
Your seeming unwillingness to converse on the subject I named
to you this morning, prevented my saying to you all I had intended
on the subject of my petition to Govt for an augmentation of land.
My reasons for my intended petition is not a mere idle whim, it is
because I was amongst the first who emigrated to the country, It
will shortly be eight years since I made the country my home. At
that time, and nearly ever since, I have been engaged in a business,
altogether profitable to the community, and for many reasons well
known to yourself, it has been quite the contrary to myself. I lost
all my property that was of value to me at my first landing, to
the amt. of upwards of $500.
The business I have followed could not be profitable to me, until
the country should flourish, in consequence of which my last
seven years has been spent in a labour, that is hard and rough, living
in the woods, during all of which time, I have been saving and
economical, and at this moment find myself not only poor, but
largely in debt.
I have therefore thought, that as the country has been proffitted
by the business I have followed, and has been of public utility,
that it might entitle me to a claim on the country, for a
remuneration of the losses I have sustained in her services. I wish no extra
acquisition of lands unless I merit them, and whether I do or not,
depends on the reasons above stated, all of which, comes within
your knowledge.
Seth Ingram [Rubric]
Col. Stephen F. Austin.