Born in Kentucky, Green DeWitt was a prominent early Texas settler who in 1825 established a colony on the Guadalupe River adjacent to Stephen F. Austin's colony. DeWitt collaborated with other notable Texans such as Byrd Lockhart, James Kerr and José Antonio Navarro, as well as garnering financial support from his wife, Sara Seely DeWitt. Ultimately, however, the colony was unsuccessful and DeWitt's contract was not renewed in 1831. Continuing to pursue land interests, DeWitt travelled to Monclova in 1835, but he contracted a fatal illness and died on May 18.
Papers include a letter from DeWitt (1787-1835), empresario, to the Commandant of Arms at La Bahia, reporting clashes with Indians in DeWitt's Colony and requesting troops for protection, as well as a power of attorney (1827) signed by DeWitt, appointing James Kerr acting empresario for DeWitt's Colony; and a fragment of a typewritten transcript of an anonymous letter describing events and conditions in Gonzales, DeWitt's Colony, 1832.
Green C. DeWitt Papers, 1827-1832, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin