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 Baron de Bastrop Monument
N 30° 06.555 W 097° 19.099
14R E 662027 N 3332084
A monument in the front yard of the Bastrop County Courthouse square honors the man we know as the Baron de Bastrop. He was the man behind the scenes who influenced the colonization of Texas.
Waymark Code: WMPE0Q
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 08/15/2015
Views: 5
The memorial to Baron de Bastrop is a large polished Texas pink granite slab set in the courthouse square in downtown Bastrop. The address is 803 Pink Street, Bastrop, TX. The historic marker is in front of the space between the Bastrop County Courthouse and the old jailhouse, about half way between the two buildings and Pine Street. The man we know as Baron de Bastrop has a personal history that reads like a movie mystery script. Named Philip Hendrik Nering Bögel at birth in Dutch Guiana, he grew up, married and raised a family of 5 children in the Netherlands, wile working as a tax collector there. Accused of embezzling tax money for personal gain, he fled his homeland and family and sailed to America in 1795. He started over by presenting himself as a nobleman, Felipe Henrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop. He conned his way through his new life, working in Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas. He spent several years in San Antonio as a civic leader, being elected to what would now be equivalent to Mayor of the city. Neri gained influence with the Spanish and Mexican political nabobs of the time to help Moses Austin get approval for a large land grant to colonize what is now Bastrop County. Stephen F Austin was able to seal the deal after his father's death with the help of Baron de Bastrop's influence with the Mexican officials. Although he may have had a shady past and lived under pseudonyms while in this country, his works testify that he was capable of a greater good. It is fitting that the city and county named after Bastrop give him honor for his pivotal roll in getting this part of Texas colonized. It lead to much greater things. Additional references: ( visit link) ( visit link)
Marker Number: 9157
Marker Text:
Erected in recognition of the distinguished service to Texas of Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop, 1770-1829. Pioneer Red River empresario, land commissioner of Austin's colony, member of the Congress of Coahuila and Texas. Through his aid, Moses Austin secured from the Spanish government in 1821, the first contract for the Anglo-American colonization of Texas. In his honor, the name of this town and that of this county, a part of Austin's 1821 grant, known as the municipality of Mina in 1834 and the County of Mina after March 17, 1836, was changed on December 18, 1837 to Bastrop. Let this name bring to mind the friend and advocate of the pioneer in a foreign land.
Erected by the State of Texas 1936
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