James Collinsworth
James Collinsworth | |
|---|---|
| 1st Chief Justice of Texas | |
| In office December 16, 1836 – July 11, 1838 | |
| Preceded by | Inaugural holder |
| Succeeded by | John Birdsall |
| Republic of Texas Senator from Brazoria District | |
| In office November 30, 1836 – December 16, 1836 | |
| Preceded by | Inaugural holder |
| Succeeded by | William Green Hill |
| Interim Secretary of State of Texas | |
| In office April 29, 1836 – May 23, 1836 | |
| Preceded by | Samuel Price Carson |
| Succeeded by | William Houston Jack |
| Delegate to the Convention of 1836 from Brazoria District | |
| In office February 1, 1836 – March 17, 1836 | |
| United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee | |
| In office 1829–1835 | |
| Preceded by | Thomas H. Fletcher |
| Succeeded by | William T. Brown |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1802 Davidson County, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | July 11, 1838 Galveston, Texas |
| Resting place | Founders Memorial Cemetery |
James Thompson Collinsworth (1802 – July 11, 1838) was an American-born Texan lawyer and political figure in early history of the Republic of Texas.
Early life
[edit]Collinsworth was born in 1802 Davidson County, Tennessee. His father, Edward Collinsworth, served in the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.[1] His sister, Susan, married Mark R. Cockrill, a large planter known as the "Wool King of the World".[2]
Career
[edit]Collinsworth served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee.
Collinsworth served as a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, the first chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas,[3] and an interim Secretary of State of Texas.[4]
Collinsworth was candidate during the 1838 Republic of Texas presidential election against Mirabeau B. Lamar.
Death and legacy
[edit]Collinsworth drowned after falling from a steamboat into Galveston Bay.[5] His body was found on Bolivar Peninsula and taken by boat upstream along Buffalo Bayou to Houston, where he lay in state at the Texas Capitol. He was interred at Founders Memorial Cemetery in Houston.
Collingsworth County, Texas and Collingsworth Street in Houston, were both posthumously named in his honor, even though both were misspelled.
References
[edit]- ^ Zollicoffer Bond, Octavia (November 28, 1909). "The Cockrill Family". The Tennessean. p. 34. Retrieved April 15, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Cockrill Henning, Johnnie (October 10, 1950). "Mark R. Cockrill Introduced Sheep Raising Into Tennessee". The Jackson Sun. Jackson, Tennessee. p. 6. Retrieved April 16, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ McDonald Spaw, Patsy, ed. (1990). The Texas Senate: Republic to Civil War, 1836-1861. Texas A&M University Press. p. 18.
- ^ Ericson, Joe E. (June 12, 2010). "Collinsworth, James". The Handbook of Texas. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
- ^ Siegel, Stanley (1956). A Political History of the Texas Republic, 1836-1845. The University of Texas Press. p. 98.
External links
[edit]
- James Collinsworth at Find a Grave
- Founders Memorial Park at The Political Graveyard
| Capitals | .svg) | |
|---|---|---|
| Presidents | ||
| Vice Presidents |
| |
| Documents | ||
| Colonization | ||
| Presidential elections | ||
  | Republic of Texas (1836–45) | |
|---|---|---|
| State of Texas (1846–present) |
| |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
 | This article about a Texas politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- Republic of Texas Senators
- 1st Congress of the Republic of Texas
- 1802 births
- 1838 deaths
- Chief justices of the Republic of Texas Supreme Court
- Deaths by drowning in the United States
- Secretaries of state of Texas
- Texas attorneys general
- United States Attorneys for the Western District of Tennessee
- People of the Texas Revolution
- People from Brazoria County, Texas
- People from Davidson County, Tennessee
- Signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence
- Texas politician stubs