The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 73, July 1969 - April, 1970 Page: 235

Dudley G. Wooten's Comment on Texas Histories
and Historians of the Nineteenth Century
Edited by MARY BETH FLEISCHER*
With the death of Oran M. Roberts on May 19, 1898, Dudley
Goodall Wooten,' a charter member, became the second president of
the Texas State Historical Association." Wooten was born June 19,
186o, near Springfield, Missouri, the son of Dr. Thomas Dudley and
Henrietta Goodall Wooten, and moved with his family to Paris, Texas,
during the Civil War. After private tutoring in Paris by the Reverend
O. P. Stark, he entered the sophomore class at Princeton in 1872,
graduating as a Boudinot Fellow in History with a Master of Arts
degree in 1875. Obtaining a fellowship in history and political science,
he then attended Johns Hopkins University, returning to Austin in
1876. He graduated in 1878 from the University of Virginia Law
Department, and received an award for the best article, "Uncrowned
Heroes," in the university magazine for 1877-1878. He also received
the Jefferson Medal as best debater.
He returned to Austin in 188o to practice law and the same year,
on June 22, delivered an address at Texas A&cM entitled a "Plea for
the Practical Professions."' He was instrumental in the chartering of
The University of Texas, and he delivered an address at its opening
in 1883.' He served as city attorney of Austin from 1884 to 1886, but
moved to Dallas in 1889, where he served as county judge from 18go
to 1892.
*Miss Fleischer is reference librarian of the Barker Texas History Library of the
University of Texas at Austin.
'For general biographical information about Wooten see Walter Prescott Webb and
H. Bailey Carroll (eds.), The Handbook of Texas (2 vols.; Austin, 1952), II, 934; L. E.
Daniell, 7Types of Successful Men of Texas (Austin, 1890), 465-473; and U.S. Congress,
Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1961 (Washington, D.C., 1961),
1849.
'Dudley G. Wooten, "The President's Annual Address: The Life and Services of
Oran Milo Roberts," Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, II (July, 1898),
1 n.
'Dudley G. Wooten, A Plea for the Practical Professions: An Address Delivered before
the Literary Societies of the State Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, on
Tuesday, June 22, x88o (Austin, [x88o?]).
'Wooten presented a bust of ex-governor O. M. Roberts to the University in behalf
of the sculptress, Elisabet Ney. J. J. Lane, History of the University of Texas (Austin,
1891), 259.