As the United States expanded and families continued to migrate Westward, the vast Mexican territory promised tremendous opportunity to those seeking land. Several Caruthers / Carothers / Carruthers individuals and families helped pioneer this land.
In the "New World", while the English and the French claimed the Atlantic coastal land from Georgia north to Canada, Spain was the conquering European country in what is now Florida, Texas, California, Mexico, Central America, and most of the rest of South America. Texas was thinly settled under Spanish rule, with only two settlements of any size: San Antonio and Nacogdoches. Between 1731 and 1836, 29 municipalities were created, partially or entirely in what is now Texas.
In 1821, Augustin Iturbide assumed command of the Mexican forces in revolt against Spain, becoming Emperor in 1822. In order to secure possession of the sparsely settled areas, Mexico started encouraging immigration into them.
The first of several colonization laws was passed in 1823, with Stephen F. Austin being largely responsible for this law. The next few years saw a lot of political turmoil, with Iturbide abdicating, a Mexican revolution, a new constitutional government set up, prohibition of colonization in 1830, and a partial repeal of the prohibition.
There were multiple colonization laws set up by the central Mexican government and various state governments. The procedure for families to obtain land grants was to go through certain "empressarios" who had contracts with the government to settle a certain number of families within designated areas. After abiding by the legal requirements, the families were granted the land. The First Contract was with Stephen F. Austin, dated February 25, 1823. Prior to 1833, Mexico issued 30 contracts to empressaios named Austin, Robertson, DeLeon, De Witt, Thorn, Edwards, Purnell, Drakes, Milam, Wavel, Wilson, Woodbury, Burnet, Vehlein, Cameron, Hewitson, Power, McMullen, McGloin, Domingnez, De Zavalia, Chambers, Padillo, Williams, Filisola, and Beale.
After independence from Mexico was completed in 1836, The Republic of Texas continued the process of furthering immigration via contracts for colonies. Between 1841 and 1844, the Republic of Texas issued 7 contracts to empressarios Peters, Castro, Fisher, Miller, and General Charles F. Mercer.
Many know the political history of Sam Houston, but it is important to recognize a significant Mexican politician in the transition to independence and statehood. Lorenzo De Zavala not only had a contract to bring families to Texas, but he served as Vice-President of the Republic of Texas during the all important transition period after the Constitutional Convetion and the assumption of Houston's first cabinet. Dr. De Zavala had been a member of Mexican Congress, Governor of the state of Mexico, and Minister to France when he resigned to be a colonist in Texas. Santa Ana had as high a price on his head as he had on Sam Houston. Mexicans were Texas colonists, too.
Grants of land in Texas were, at various times, issued by the Crown of Spain, the Republic of Mexico, the Republic of Texas, and the State of Texas. Grants were issued to people who settled in Texas and to men who fought in the Texas Revolution. The types of grants issued by the Republic and State of Texas were as follows:
The first Caruthers on record in Texas was Mary Caruthers, a 50 year old widow moving from Alabama with one of the Austin colony placements. This was in January, 1830. Imagine how tough it was for a single woman to begin staking out a new homestead in an unsettled land.
Following Mary in April 1831, again from Alabama in an Austin colony placement, were Thomas Caruthers age 32, his wife Elizabeth age 28, and their 2 daughters. We are still researching where Thomas, Elizabeth and Mary came from before Alabama.
5 Caruthers brothers went to Texas in the early 1830s. Their father was Samuel Caruthers, Sr., born April 29, 1770 in Abbeville County, South Carolina and died August 21, 1847 in Clark County, Arkansas. Samuel had 9 sons. Of these, we know that Young (1802-1836), Allen (1804-1863), John (1807-1856), William (1809-1889) and Ewing (1813-1836) were in Texas. Ewing (in Captain Peyton Wyatt's company) was killed at Goliad. Allen was in the battle at San Jacinto. Young and William were also listed as Texas veterans. Allen is identified as going to Texas in 1835. John was on the Washington County's tax list in 1837. John and Allen were on the Washington tax rolls in 1840.
Serena Carothers (1807-1884) was from Kentucky. She married Dr. Benjamin Briggs Goodrich, one of the signers of the Declaration of Texas Independence.
Thomas Carothers was significant in early Texas history, but there is controversy as to where he came from. And, as usual, there could be multiple Thomas Carothers who have been mis-identified as 1 person. Thomas served, in addition to other posts, as Superintendent of the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas from 1859 to 1866. He died in Anderson, Texas on April 17, 1867. He was a good friend of Sam Houston, and was an executor of Houston's will. He has been identified as a "cousin" of Sam Houston's, but it must have been a somewhat distant cousin as, although the Carothers and Houstons lived close together in Pennsylvania and Carolina, the closest relationship is several generations old.
And now the controversy. In several places on the internet, Thomas is identified as the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Louden Carothers. One of these sources is the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), so this sounds like a fact. However, the TSHA also says this Thomas was listed as age 32 in the 1850 census, so, unless the census is in error, this means this Thomas was born in 1818 (possibly 1817 if his birthday was after the census). Elizabeth Loudon Carothers died in 1814 in Pennsylvania. The images below are hard to read, but they are original source documents - grave marker and church records. Pennsylvania records also state that this couple's son, named Thomas, did go to Texas, but died in Danville in 1855. If anyone can submit to the webmaster of this website, copies of source documents for birth or death of this Thomas, we will update our records. Until then, we do not believe this executor of Sam Houston's will was the son of Elizabeth Loudon Carothers and still do not know where he came from. Thank you in advance if you can assist in clearing this up.
Source material for this web page is a variety of sources, but they include these books from the website library, which you could obtain from the links to Amazon.com.