A COMMITTEE OF PROMINENT TEXANS FINDS THOMAS MOORE "COMPETENT AND QUALIFIED TO PRACTICE LAW IN THE DISTRICT AND INFERIOR COURTS OF THIS STATE."
Burnet County, Texas: October 6, 1859. Single-page manuscript, 23 lines plus signatures, on pale blue paper 8" x 12". Light old folds, a few minor spots, Near Fine.
Burnet County, in central Texas, was created as a separate entity in 1852. The Committee, appointed by Hon. Edward H. Vontress, Judge of the 17th Judicial District, included John Henry Brown, Alexander Stuart Walker, Thomas Proctor Hughes, William C. Wiseman, prominent and powerful Texans all.
Brown [1820-1895] was evidently not a lawyer; a newspaper editor, politician, and historian, he was among the earliest writers of Texas histories. Brown would chair the committee that prepared Texas's articles of secession; during the Civil War he was on Ben McCulloch's staff and fought at Palmito Ranch, the last battle of the War. After the War, along with other disaffected Texans, he moved to Mexico for several years.
Hughes [1826-1899] was born in Kentucky and settled in Texas around 1850. A member of the Texas Secession Convention, he voted against secession but then joined the Confederate Army. Walker studied law with David Burnet, after whom the County is named; and served in the Confederate Army and as a Confederate judge. Wiseman was Texas Reconstruction Governor A.J. Hamilton's appointee as Chief Justice of Guadalupe County.
Edward H. Vontress [1825-1864] was an attorney, judge, state representative for Texas, and Confederate officer. Born in Kentucky, he moved to Texas and opened a law firm with Thomas P. Hughes. He represented Williamson and Burnet Counties in the Fifth Texas Legislature from 1853-54. When the Seventeenth Judicial District was created in 1856 he was elected its first district judge. He fought under Gen. Albert Sydney Johnston; returned to Texas and was elected Captain of Co. A, Morgan's Regiment, 18th Texas Cavalry; and was killed in June 1864 while on his way to deliver a message to Gen. Richard Taylor. [Online Handbook of Texas].
Alexander Stuart Walker [1826-1896] was born in Virginia and settled in Texas in 1852. A lawyer, he was elected district judge while serving in the Confederate Army in 1862 . He was removed as judge by the U.S. military in 1865 for being an "impediment to Reconstruction." Item #32945
Price: $750.00