Before Texas was admitted to the Union as a State it was the independent Republic of Texas and before it was a Republic it was part of Mexico. Beginning in 1824 the Mexican government contracted with Empresarios (contractors) to bring settlers into the Mexican State of Coahuila and Texas. Stephen F Austin was the most successful of the Empresarios. He began making land grants from the area allocated to him. Austin and his secretary kept records on the families he helped settle and the land grants he made. These records cover the time period 1824 to 1828 and in many cases on to 1836 when the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed. The surname PATE appears in those records. A researcher-compiler named Vilamae Williams has published (1984, 1989 and 2000) abstracts of those records. The Library of Congress profile for the 1989 edition is included below. If any one has access to this book and could extract the PATE information AND post it to PATE-L, it would be a very helpful bit of information to have. Joel LC Control Number: 89-080087 Main Title: Stephen F. Austin's register of families : from the originals in the General Land Office, Austin, Texas /edited by Villamae Williams. Published/Created: Baltimore, Md. : Genealogical Pub. Co., 1989, c1984. ISBN: 0806312521 LC Classification: F385 .A895 1989 Dewey Class No.: 929/.3764 20 Empresarios (contractors) to bring specific numbers of families into the State of Coahuila and Texas x