The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 33, July 1929 - April, 1930 Page: 133
344 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Political Career of Williamson Simpson Oldham 133
the practice of his profession. He took no part thereafter in the
political affairs of the state, and he would not read the newspapers
during the days of Reconstruction. On May 8, 1868, the lonely
heart-broken, unreconstructed believer in state rights died of
typhoid fever. The radical leaders would not allow him honor in
death. The Houston Bar met and passed resolutions in honor of
Oldham, but Judge C. B. Sabin, the military judge of the court,
refused to allow the resolutions to be spread upon the minutes of
the court unless the following resolution was withdrawn:
"Resolved, We recognize in W. S. Oldham, a distinguished and
indefatigable public servant and patriot, sincerely, purely, and
wholly devoted to the happiness and honor of our State."'1 The
members of the Bar refused to withdraw the resolution, and the
resolutions were not printed. The Houston Daily Telegraph of
May 9, 1868,92 said of him that "he was one of the truest patriots
that ever illustrated the history of Texas."
The Reverend Edward Fontaine, his friend, gave a fitting sum-
mary of his character:
"The man who, from the obscurity of a boyhood of poverty, with
no legacy from his father but honesty and industry, with no edu-
cation and reared in the interior of a State remote from advan-
tages of position, such as great cities afford, could rise to the high-
est eminence as a jurist, legislator, orator, and representative and
leader of States and a whole Republic, was certainly no ordinary
character.""9
"Texas Republican (Marshall, Texas), May 22, 1868, archives of the
Texas State Library.
"Archives of the Library of the University of Texas. Loaned by the
Houston Public Library.
"De Bow's Review, XXXVII, 880.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 33, July 1929 - April, 1930, periodical, 1930; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101090/m1/147/?rotate=90: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.