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Wightmans lead colonists to Matagorda
On this day in 1828, Elias R. Wightman and his new bride Mary began their trek to Texas from New York leading a group of approximately fifty to sixty colonists. Wightman had come to Texas as early as 1824, and in 1826 he petitioned Stephen F. Austin for the establishment of Matagorda. Austin sent both Wightman and David G. Burnet to the United States to find potential settlers for his colony. When Wightman returned to his home state of New York he married Mary Sherwood, a former pupil, and thus their honeymoon became a migration to a new and wild land. Aboard the schooner Little Zoe, the Wightmans and their band of immigrants finally arrived at their fledgling settlement in January 1829. Elias surveyed the town of Matagorda and also operated a salt works. During the community’s early days he and his wife taught school. Elias died in 1841, shortly after he and Mary had returned to New York state; Mary then married Meredith Helm, who helped found Connersville, Indiana, where they lived until her death in 1886. In 1884 Mary wrote about her journey with Elias and details of the settlement of Matagorda in Scraps of Early Texas History.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- WIGHTMAN, ELIAS R.
- HELM, MARY SHERWOOD WIGHTMAN
- MATAGORDA, TX
- MATAGORDA COUNTY
- AUSTIN, STEPHEN FULLER
- BURNET, DAVID GOUVERNEUR
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Voters ratify Better Schools Amendment (1920)
- Spanish diplomat dies of head injury (1779)
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