Grogan Farm

History of the Grogan Farm

The Grogan Farm sits on land originally granted by the Spanish government to Sylvanus Castleman, one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred settlers.  Castleman was born in Tennessee and served as a Mounted Ranger in the Tennessee Militia during the War of 1812.  After the war, he moved with his family, including his wife Elizabeth Lucas Castleman, to Missouri. While in Missouri, Sylvanus became acquainted with Moses Austin who, in 1819, was developing a plan to settle an American colony of 300 families in the Spanish Province of Texas. Moses Austin and two American companions went to San Antonio to present the settlement proposal to the Spanish governor who endorsed it on December 26, 1820. 

Sylvanus Castleman may have been one of Moses Austin’s traveling companions because, as Moses Austin was about to return to Missouri to settle his affairs he sent a letter to his friend, Baron de Bastrop, mentioning that he had been at Mr. Castleman’s in January 1821.  Moses Austin died in Missouri on June 10, 1821, and his son Stephen F. Austin carried out his plans for an American settlement in Spanish Texas. 

Castleman moved to Texas from Missouri, probably in 1821 or 1822, because Austin took a lot in Sainte Genevieve, Missouri, as payment for surveying Castleman's land in Texas in March 1822. On July 7, 1824 Castleman officially received title to several tracts of land as a member of Austin’s “Old Three Hundred” colony but he lived on his one-half league (2214 acres) located on the west side of the Colorado River in a big bend about six miles above present day La Grange.

The Castleman homestead was a popular place for travelers and visitors passing through the area. Baron de Bastrop and Stephen F. Austin were frequent visitors and while they were in residence their letters were headlined with the notation: “From Castleman’s on the Colorado.”

In December 1823, Castleman was appointed judge for the alcalde (a Spanish mayor or magistrate) election and, perhaps to his surprise, he himself was elected alcalde of La Grange.  Castleman took his oath of office on January 10, 1824. 

The Grogan Farm sits near the Western boundary of Castleman's land grant, as his land extended several miles to the east all the way to the Colorado River.  It is believed that Castleman "became deranged and committed suicide" by slitting his own throat in 1832, although the exact date of his death is not known.  Upon his death, the Fayette County Court divided Castleman's Fayette County land among his wife and children.

One of Castleman's sons, Jacob Castleman, inherited the land where the Grogan Farm is today.  Jacob later served under Sam Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto.  He is buried next to his mother Elizabeth in a family cemetery near Flatonia, Texas.