A History of The Rusk Cherokeean, 1847-1973 Page: 129
191 p. : ill.View a full description of this book.
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Marie Hall Whitehead
reported that the family lived in Tyler
County, Texas, and that Sam's age was
fifteen. Volume A of the Deed Records of
that county indicates that Sam was
employed in the County Clerk's office as a
deputy at the age of sixteen. Marriage
records of the same county report his
marriage to Susan E. Priest September 1,
1853.34
A special act of the Texas legislature
in 1852 allowed Samuel A. Willson to be
admitted to the bar at the age of seventeen.
He served as district attorney for Tyler
County from 1854 to 1860. During the
War Between the States, he served with
Hood's Brigade, and the Willson family
history records his presence at the battle of
Gettysburg. After Willson's return from
the war, he resumed his law practice at
Woodville in Tyler county. He served as
district judge from 1865-67, and in 1870
he began his law practice in Rusk.35 In
1879, Willson was appointed by Governor
Richard Coke as one of the commissioners
to codify the laws of Texas under the
Constitution of 1876. He was appointed
to the first Court of Appeals in 1882 and
was elected to the same office at the
following election.36
Willson assured his place in legal
history with the publication of Willson's
Criminal Forms, adapted to the Criminal
Codes of Texas. The book, which
contained forms for every criminal
proceeding under the Criminal Code of
Texas, was still in use as a textbook at TheUniversity of Texas Law School in 1955.37
In her history of Cherokee County, Hattie
Joplin Roach, credited the volume with
having done more to aid law enforcement
than any other ten books ever written in
Texas.38 Willson's son, Samuel Priest
Willson who co-edited the Rusk
newspaper, later served twenty years as a
member of the Court of Civil Appeals.
Samuel Willson wrote not only legal
publications but also poetry, and his talent
for writing was further reflected in the
works of his daughters and granddaughters.
Three of his daughters - Mrs. B.C. (Alice)
Hosmer, Mrs. W.B. (Birdie) Whitman, and
Mrs. R.A. (Lela) Barrett - chose writing
careers. Two granddaughters have also won
recognition in the literary field. Miss
Winnie Meeks is a writer of verse, and Miss
Wanda Whitman is a writer of fiction and
biography.39
Judge Willson developed pneumo-
nia following a trip by horseback in a
snowstorm from his home in Rusk to the
courthouse where he was scheduled to hold
court in the winter of 1892.40 He died
January 24, 1892, at the age of fifty-seven.
JOHN BENJAMIN LONG
The career of John Benjamin Long,
like other publishers before him and still
others to come, had as its springboard the
publication of the newspaper at Rusk. This
distinguished editor-publisher was the son129
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Whitehead, Marie Hall. A History of The Rusk Cherokeean, 1847-1973, book, 2009; Lufkin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1471321/m1/129/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Singletary Memorial Library.