Biographical Encyclopedia of Texas Page: 95 of 372
This book is part of the collection entitled: Rare Book and Texana Collections and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries Special Collections.
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ENCYCLOPEDIA,
79
Alabama. Since 1847 General Shelley has been
.exceedingly prominent in his attachment for the
I. 0. 0. F., representing that fraternity in the
Grand Lodge of the United States, and for several
years the accredited representative in the Grand
Lodge of Alabama, and also Grand Master of the
Grand Lodge of the State of Texas
REELER, ROYAL T., was horn in Verm%it
nont in 1810. H-Ie was principally reared
: in Ohio, where he received a respectable
education, and studied law with more than
usual application. He immigrated to Arkansas in
1837, and settled at Fayetteville, where he became
the law partner of Williamson S. Oldham, afterward
a Supreme Judge of that State, and subse.quently
a Senator in the Confederate Congress at
Richmond. Royal T. Wheeler acquired more reputation
as an orator before juries than as an accurate
lawyer. His mind was logical, however, and
his reading sufficiently extensive to make him, an
,effective special pleader, under the system which
then prevailed in that State. He was a man of
,great purity of character and business integrity.
As to strong drink hlie was a teetotaler, and as to
i.orals a reformer. The whole bent of his mind
*unfitted him to a great extent for the rude state of
*society that then existed on the Arkansas frontier.
In 1839 ihe married an excellent and accomplished
young lady, Miss Emily Walker, of Fayetteville.
'They removed the same year to Nacogdoches,
Texas, where M1r. Wheeler soon took a high position
in the legal profession, as the law partner of
'C. L. Anderson, then Vice President of the Republic.
Mr. Wheeler became the Prosecuting Attorney
for his circuit, and afterward one of the District
Judges of the Republic, which also entitled
him to a position as one of the Supreme Judges
.in bane.
Judge Wheeler was a strong advocate of annexa*tion.
His probity and ripe legal attainments
caused Governor J. Pinckney H-enderson to select
himn as one of the Associate Judges of the Supreme
.Court of the State in 1846, and he was twice cho.sen
by the people to the same position. Upon-the
.election to the United States Senate of Chief Justice
John HIemphill, he was by common consent
elected to fill the vacancy so occasioned. That po:sition
he occupied with 0. M. Roberts and James
H. Bell as his associates. When Judge Roberts
.rxesigned his office to become a soldier, Mr. George
I. Moore, then one of the reporters of the Supreine
Court, resigned his position in the Confederate
army, and was elected and became tlhe
associate of Chief Justice R. T. Wheeler anid James
H. Bell.
Contrary to his early training, and his ClayWebster
Whiggery, Justice Wheeler becamune an
ard(ent Secessionist. He died in Washington, Texas,
in 1864.
A ,CK, WILLIAM H., was born in Wilkes
A,I i county, Georgia, on the 12th of April,
1806. He was the son of Colonel Patrick
- Jack, who represented his county in the
Legislature of Georgia for several years, and who
commanded a regiment of Georgianiis during the
War of 1812. He was the grandson of Captain
James Jack, of Charlotte, North Carolina, who bore
on horseback to Philadelphia the historic Mecklenburg
Declaration, and delivered it to the Colonial
Conveniition in that city. He subsequently coimnmianded
a company of North Carolinians during
the Revolution.
Having graduated with distinction at the University
of Georgia, and qualified himiself for the praetice
of law, William IiH. Jack located in Tuscaloosa,
Alabama, anid entered upon his profession. He
married Miss Laura Harrison, a native of Greenville
district, South Carolina. At the age of twentytwo
he represeniited Jefferson county in the Alabama
Legislature. He immigrated to Texas with hIis
young wife andI one child in 1830, and settled in
San Felipe de Austin, at that time the center of
professional and political activity, where lie at once
entered zealously into practice. In 1838 hlie moved
to Brazoria county, afterward baptized as the " Cradle
of Texas Liberty,' where he coniitinued to reside
until his death, absorbed by the arduous
labors of a large law practice, alternated with his
services as a soldier and statesman. In 1832 his
brother, Patrick C. Jack, and William B. Travis
were ruthlessly arrested by General Bradburn, a
military tyrant in commanid at Anahuac. They were
refused tiial by the civil authorities, aniid imiprisoned
and held as captive by military authority.
Colonel Jack appealed to Bradburn for the release
of the prisoners, and their trial under the laws of
the land. He refused, and declared his purpose to
send the prisoners to Vera Cruz. That meant
hopeless captivity or death. Thereupon Colonel
William Jack aroused the colonists 'to make war on
the Mexican Government, and they dlemandedi the
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Biographical Encyclopedia of Texas (Book)
Biographical view of Texas and its history including narratives of the individuals who helped shape Texas history and information about important point in history including: the pioneer days of Texas, Texas' transition from a Mexican state to being part of the United States, and the wars in which Texas citizens took part.
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Biographical Encyclopedia of Texas, book, 1880; New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth5827/m1/95/?q=russell: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.