Constantine W. Buckley Explained

Constantine W. Buckley
Office:Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives
Term:February 2, 1863 – November 2, 1863
Preceded:Nicholas Henry Darnell
Succeeded:M. D. K. Taylor
State House1:Texas
District1:47th
Term1:November 4, 1861 - December 19, 1865
Preceded1:Elijah James Chance
Succeeded1:Titus Howard Mundine
State House2:Texas
District2:51st
Term2:November 2, 1857 - November 4, 1861
Preceded2:James S. Sullivan
Succeeded2:Albert H. Rippetoe
Birth Date:22 January 1815
Birth Place:Surry County, North Carolina
Death Place:Columbia, Texas
Children:3

Constantine W. Buckley (January 22, 1815 – December 19, 1865) was an American politician in Texas who served two non-consecutive terms as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives between 1861 and 1863.

Buckley was born January 22, 1815, in Surry County, North Carolina, but had moved to Georgia by 1828 where he began working as a store clerk. In 1834 in Columbus, Buckley opened a store of his own, which closed after the Panic of 1837. After losing everything, he moved to Houston in the Republic of Texas, where he was a clerk in the State Department. While Buckley worked there, he was tutored in law by Attorney General John Birdsall, which enabled Buckley's admission to the bar in November 1839.

Gov. James Pinckney Henderson appointed him a District Judge in 1847, but Buckley resigned in 1854 in order to resume private practice. Buckley was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives from Richmond in 1857. He represented Austin and Fort Bend counties in the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Legislatures. On November 4, 1861, at the beginning of the Regular Session of the Ninth Legislature, Buckley was elected Speaker and served until he apparently resigned on December 7, 1861.[1] After Buckley's successor, Nicholas Henry Darnell resigned sometime in 1862,[2] Buckley was elected to the vacant office of Speaker for the First Called Session that convened on February 2, 1863, defeating Reps. Robert Turner Flewellen and John Smith, 54 votes to 5 and 1, respectively.[3]

Buckley was married twice, the first time in 1840. He had three children with his first wife who had apparently died by 1852 when Buckley then married Mrs. Ann R. Nibbs. Buckley drowned in the Brazos River near Columbia, Texas, on December 19, 1865.

Notes and References

  1. Book: Texas. Legislature. House of Representatives . House journal of the Ninth Legislature, Regular session of the State of Texas, November 4, 1861-January 14, 1862 . 1964 . 2007-01-22 . Texas State Library . Austin, Texas . 06776052 . James M. Day.
  2. Darnell resigned to fight in the Civil War. Texas Legislature records during the Civil War were spotty at best, and were not even published until the mid-1960s.
  3. Book: Texas. Legislature. House of Representatives . House journal of the Ninth Legislature, first called session of the State of Texas, February 2, 1863-March 7, 1863 . 1963 . 2007-01-22 . Texas State Library . Austin, Texas . 03831721 . James M. Day.