The Baron de Bastrop
Biography of a Noble Fraud
The Baron de Bastrop had a charming and charismatic personality that he used to influence the Anglo-American settlement of Mexican Texas. He lived under an assumed name because he had a bounty on his head and he lied abut his noble birth, but without his help, Texas might have remained a part of Mexico.
Bastrop’s Early Years
The Baron de Bastrop was born Philip Hendrik Nering Bögel in Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana on November 23, 1759. His parents, Conraed Laurens Nering and Maria Jacoba Bögel, moved the family to Holland in 1764. In 1782, he married Georgine Wolffeline Françoise Lijcklama à Nyeholt. They had five children together and eventually settled in Leeuwarden, capital city of the Dutch province of Friesland.
The Baron de Bastrop Leaves Holland with a Price on His Head
Bögel worked as the tax collector for the province of Friesland. Recent historical research has revealed that in 1793, he was accused of stealing tax dollars and using them for personal gain. He abandoned his family and left for Spanish Louisiana before he could be tried, and he left with at least a year’s worth of taxes stolen from the province. As he traveled through Missouri on his way to Louisiana, the Baron met a young miner named Moses Austin. This meeting would later develop into a friendship that was crucial to the Anglo-American settlement of Texas. Once in Louisiana, Bögel changed his name to Felipe Enrique Neri, told his neighbors and friends that he was from a noble family, and claimed that he was forced to flee from the French when they invaded Holland. With his fabricated title of the Baron de Bastrop and his charismatic personality, he easily negotiated numerous land deals in both Louisiana and Kentucky.
The Baron de Bastrop moves to Spanish Texas
In 1803, the Baron traveled to Spanish Texas. He settled in San Antonio in 1806 where he conducted a successful freighting business. He was given permission to establish a colony between Bexar and the Trinity River and appointed to the position of Alcalde, or chief judicial officer, which is the Spanish equivalent to town mayor. In 1820, Moses Austin recognized the Baron in San Antonio from their meeting in Missouri twenty years earlier and he asked the Baron to meet with him. Austin needed the Baron’s influence to persuade the Mexican government to accept his own proposal for an Anglo-American settlement in Mexican Texas. The Baron readily agreed to help. He urged Governor Antonio María Martínez to accept the proposal and approve a land grant for the colony, a challenging conversation since the governor had already rejected Austin's request and told Austin to leave the country. The Baron used his Spanish ties in Louisiana to sway the governor’s opinions and produced his Spanish Louisiana passport as evidence of his connections. His efforts were successful.
The Baron Assists Stephen Austin in Establishing the Colony
Unfortunately, on his way home to prepare for the move, Moses Austin developed pneumonia. His deathbed request was that his son, Stephen Austin, carry out his plans for establishing the colony and Stephen agreed to do so, but he needed the Baron’s assistance and advice in dealing with the Mexican government. The Baron was eager to help, and it is possible that without the Baron's assistance, the project would have failed. Without the continued settlement of Anglo-Americans in Mexican Texas, Texas would have remained a part of Mexico.
The Baron de Bastrop’s Political Career
In 1823, the Baron de Bastrop was appointed commissioner of colonization for the Austin colony and given authority to issue land titles. That same year, he was elected to the provincial deputation at Bexar, then chosen as the representative to the legislature of the new state of Coahuila. His primary political focus was on legislation that favored continued immigration of Anglo-Americans into Mexican Texas and supported the interests of the settlers. He was also a major player in establishing a port at Galveston.
The Baron Dies a Pauper
In spite of his business endeavors, land deals, and political career, the Baron’s salary was dependent on the income of the settlers, and when he died on February 23, 1827 he couldn’t afford to pay for his own burial. His friends and fellow politicians paid his funeral costs. He was buried in Saltillo, Texas, northeast of Dallas. He left a will claiming that his parents were Conrado Lorenzo Neri, the Baron de Bastrop, and Susana Maria Bray Banguin. He also willed his land to the family he abandoned in Holland so many years before. The truth of his identity remained a secret until the last half of the twentieth century when historians uncovered records in the Netherlands indicating that the Baron was not a Baron after all. Nevertheless, this charming and charismatic man played a vital role in the Anglo-American settlement of Texas and earned the respect paid to him for his work as a diplomat and politician. The city of Bastrop, Louisiana, and the city and county of Bastrop, Texas, were named in his honor.
Resources:
“Bastrop, Baron De.” The Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
Nevin, David. The Old West: The Texans. Time Life Books. Canada: 1975.
“The Dutch Texans: The Baron de Bastrop.” The University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures at San Antonio. Retrieved August 20, 2009.
Monument of Baron de Bastrop in Bastrop, Texas.
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