Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 2, 1994                   TAG: 9312300207
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

STEPHEN F. AUSTIN MONUMENT PLANNED

The group plans to build a monument in Austin's memory at his birthplace and, later, tie in its activities with the Shot Tower and New River Trail state parks.

Austin was born in 1793 in Austinville, a community named for his father, Moses Austin, who managed mining operations there.

He founded settlements in Texas, which drew other colonists from the United States. Texas was then under the Mexican government of Gen. Santa Anna.

Arrested once by Mexican authorities as a traitor when he was sent to Mexico City to present settler grievances in 1833, he returned to Texas two years later and helped spark the revolution that led to independence.

He was defeated by Sam Houston in a run for the presidency of Texas in 1836, and served as its secretary of state until his death later that year.