Existing comment:
Mary Phelps Austin Holley, 1784-1846
Mary Phelps Austin Holley made several trips to Texas between 1831 and 1843, writing a book about her early travels in 1833. According to Auguste Edouart, the volume, entitled Texas: Observations Historical, Geographical, and Descriptive, was "the first work" on the subject and the one upon which "all the rest were founded." Another commentator described the book as a work of "great purity and elegance of style."
Holley visited Austin, then a colony, which had been founded by her cousin Steven Austin, and she went on to join the campaign for the annexation of Texas and invest in land there.
Edouart captures Holley seated without props that refer to her accomplishments or attributes. Her obituary tells us more: she was "slight and graceful" with finely turned features that "glowed with animation when aroused by her subject."
Auguste Edouart, 1844 |