Reminiscences of reconstruction in Texas ; and, Reminiscences of Texas and Texans fifty years ago Page: 46 of 58
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46 TEXAS AND TEXANS FIFTY YEARS AGO.
He ably represented Galveston county in the Fourteenth Legislature.
He is a man of great public spirit, and has done much
towards the building up and development of the trade and business
of Galveston.
* * *
COLONEL JOHN WHITT was one of the first settlers of Fairfield,
and a member of the Freestone county bar. He was in Fairfield
the first time the writer visited the town, in the spring of 1852.
The court house then was a clapboard shanty, about 20 feet square,
set in the middle of the public square of the town. Whitt was not
only a lawyer, but a hotel keeper. He not only knew how to conduct
a law -suit for a client, but knew how to feed and entertain
him in a most hospitable manner. His house was a popular resort
for the visiting members of the bar in court time. He was a most
genial and companionable landlord, and most attentive to the comfort
and wants of his guests. He was a public spirited citizen and
a most useful member of society. He has long since been dead.
However, as an early settler and pioneer he did his duty toward the
upbuilding of his section of Texas.
* * *
HENDERSON YOAKUM, W. A. LEIGH, A. M. BRANCH and A. P.
WILEY, members of the Walker county bar, in the early fifties,
were regular attendants upon the Leon county district court.
Yoakum was a tall, spare-made Tennesseean, a profound lawyer,
a pleasant, agreeable gentleman, who found time while attending
to his large practice to write the history of Texas, his adopted
State. "Yoakum's History of Texas" is his monument. Leigh,
Branch and Wiley were leading lawyers and citizens in their day
in Texas. Branch was honored by his fellow-citizens by election to
the Confederate Congress. All of them are long since dead, but
their names are treasured as household memories by the people of
Walker county.
* * *
JUDGE W. B. OCHILTREE, of the Naeogdoches bar, was an occasional
visitor in the Thirteenth Judicial District in the practice
of his profession. The writer saw Ochiltree first in the spring of
1852. He remembers as distinctly as though it were yesterday
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Wood, William D. Reminiscences of reconstruction in Texas ; and, Reminiscences of Texas and Texans fifty years ago, book, 1902; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth14387/m1/46/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.