A name applied to four empresario land grant contracts first by the Republic of Texas and then the State of Texas for settlement in north Texas.
Historical Note. Peters Colony (also “Peters’ Colony”) was formed as a result of a contract (which was authorized by the Texas Congress on January 4, 1841) between William S. Peters and his associates, a group of English and American men, and the President of Texas, Mirabeau Lamar. It began on August 30, 1841.  The original boundary of Peters Colony started on the Red River at the mouth of Big Mineral Creek, currently in western Grayson County, running south 60 miles, then west 22 miles, then back north to the Red River, and then east along the Red River to the point of origin at Big Mineral Creek. The area of Peters Colony was large. It included all or portions of Denton, Collin, Cooke, Grayson, Dallas, Tarrant, Wise, Palo Pinto, Ellis, Johnson, Montague, Parker, Hood, Clay, Jack, Erath, Wichita. Archer, Young, Stephens, Eastland, Wilbarger, Baylor, Throckmorton, Shackelford, and Callahan counties. The headquarters of the Peters colony was in Louisville, Kentucky, where Peters's son William C. operated a successful music store. From this music store W. S. Peters and Samuel Browning, Peters's son-in-law, departed in June 1839 to seek English support for the colony. Peters viewed the colony primarily as a business venture. But, influenced by his studies of the philanthropic ideas of William Godwin and Thomas Paine, he may also have envisioned the colony as providing new opportunities for the English industrial middle class. William S. Peters, the founder of the Peters colony of Texas, was born in England in 1779. He moved to North America in 1827 with his wife and six of his children. He worked in Canada as a military bandmaster and was forty-eight years old when he entered the United States. There are many reminders of the old peters Colony still today. One is the city of The Colony (city logo at left courtesy of The Colony) which is located north of Dallas Texas in Denton county. The Colony has a 2010 estimated population of over 40,000. The Colony is located inside the original Peters Colony lands. Peters Colony. The officials of the Peters Colony made a contract with the Republic of Texas in 1841 to bring six hundred families into the land that was designated for the colony by 1848. The settlers who took advantage of the Peters Colony’s offer of free land were mostly from Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Many families moved to the Peters Colony, but not the required six hundred families. The Peters Colony was considered a failure for that reason. MERCER COLONY. MERCER COLONY. The Mercer colony was located in north central Texas east and south of the Peters colony. It lay roughly between the Brazos and Sabine rivers, north from Waco to McKinney in Collin County, skirting to the south and east of what is now the Dallas metropolitan area.  Peters Colony (Peters' Colony) is a name applied to four empresario land grant contracts first by the Republic of Texas and then the State of Texas for settlement in north Texas. The contracts were signed groups of American and English investors originally headed by William Smalling Peters. The area of Peters Colony was large. It included all or portions of Denton, Collin, Cooke, Grayson, Dallas, Tarrant, Wise, Palo Pinto, Ellis, Johnson, Montague, Parker, Hood, Clay, Jack, Erath, Wichita. Archer, Young, Stephens, Eastland, Wilbarger, Baylor, Throckmorton, Shackelford, and Callahan counties. Historical Note. Established by the Republic of Texas in 1841, Peters Colony was a North Texas land grant made to twenty investors led by William S. Peters. A Guide to the Peters Colony Papers, 1852-1853, 1925. Established by the Republic of Texas in 1841, Peters Colony was a North Texas land grant made to twenty investors led by William S. Peters. Peters Colony was comprised of 23 North Texas counties, or parts thereof, in the fourth and final colonization contract signed in 1843. Actual settlement of Peters Colony had begun in 1841 with a contact to '... 
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/txglo/00049/glo-00049.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peters_Colony https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/uep02 http://tripsintohistory.com/2012/01/06/the-peters-colony-in-texas/ http://www.collincountyhistory.com/peters-colony.html https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/uem02 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peters_Colony http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utcah/03011/cah-03011.html http://www.texasdaughters.com/history_of_peters_colony.htm
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