Matagorda

Year Marker Erected: 1967
Location: northeast corner of Fisher and Laurel, Matagorda

Marker Text:
Prospective colonial leader who in 1832 hoped to settle thrifty Europeans on a Mexican grant, which she never received. Mrs. McManus, daughter of a U.S. congressman from New York, was a family friend of Stephen F. Austin, "Father of Texas". Joining her Texas venture was her brother, Robert McManus, who later fought in the war for Independence. Although her colonial plans failed, Jane McManus remained enthusiastic about Texas. For years in the 1850s she and her second husband, Gen. Wm. Cazneau, lived in Eagle Pass. She is said to have been an advisor for the U.S. peacemakers after the Mexican War. Outside Texas she had a career as a New York journalist and author. She died in 1878 when a ship was lost at sea as she journeyed to her estate in Jamaica. Although Austin was the most famous leader in Texas colonization, other empresarios included Green DeWitt, Hayden Edwards, Robert Leftwich, Frost Thorn, Martin DeLeon, Ben Milam, Gen. Arthur G. Wavell, David G. Burnet, John Cameron, James Hewetson, James Power, Juan Dominguez, Juan Antonio Padilla, Thomas J. Chambers, Gen. Vicente Filisola, J.C. Beales and Jose M. Royuela. Mrs. McManus was the only known lady colonizer.