It sort of depends on whether you consider empresarios appointed by Spain as counting or not. If so then, [Philip Alston][1], in 1790, was appointed an empresario in New Madrid (Missouri) and before him George Morgan was appointed empresario there by Spain. > European Americans renamed the settlement New Madrid in about 1780 > under the auspices of Spanish Governor Bernardo de Gálvez, who was > appointed to rule Spanish Louisiana (the land west of the Mississippi > River), and Manuel Pérez, Lieutenant Governor of Upper Louisiana in > Saint Louis. They welcomed settlers from the United States, but > required them to become subjects of the Spanish crown. In addition, > they had to agree to live under the guidance of his appointed > empresario, Colonel George Morgan, an American Revolutionary War > veteran from New Jersey. Morgan recruited a number of American > families to settle at New Madrid, attracting a few hundred people to > the region. [link][2] [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Alston_(counterfeiter) [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid,_Missouri