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Do you have a family legend about the founding of Texas?  Have you traced back your family find they've been in Texas since before the Republic era?  Then you may be able to join the Descendants of Stephen F. Austin's Old 300!

Everyone has a story.  Mine begins a decade ago with Theodosia's death certificate.  I was trying to prove my lineage for another society, and I had ordered  my great-great grandmother's death certificate from the state of Texas.  She had died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1952 in Hempstead, at the ripe old age of 96.  My mentor, Jean Shroyer and I were poring over the certificate, and reviewing the information that her daughter, Maggie (Norwood) Mullenweg, had provided.  Jean tapped the paper over the birthplace field excitedly, and declared "Look at this! It says Old Washington!"

"What is that?" I asked, "Republic of Texas?"

"No.  That's Old 300," she replied, "That's a big deal."

I was really confused; I had heard of the Old 300 in my 6th grade Texas History class, but I knew no more than the basics.  I didn't even realize that the 300 in the name referenced the number of families.  I never had any idea that my family would extend that far back in Texas, much less to one of the first families to settle in the colony.

Two years later (I was pretty much starting from scratch), with a lot of help from Jean and the SFA Old 300 Registrar General, Judy Menasco, I got to tell my father that his third and fourth great grandfathers, Samuel and William Gates, had been members of the Old 300, and that he was a 6th generation Texan.

That's my story - what is yours?  Join us and tell us all about it! - Charleen "Charlie" Mullenweg