Thomas Jefferson Brown Explained

Office:Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court
Term Start:January 1911
Term End:May 26, 1915
Predecessor:Reuben R. Gaines
Successor:Nelson Phillips
Office2:Associate Justice of the
Texas Supreme Court
Term Start2:May 1893
Term End2:January 1911
Predecessor2:John L. Henry
Successor2:William F. Ramsey
State House3:Texas
District3:27th
Term Start3:January 9, 1889
Term End3:September 5, 1892
Alongside3:John Haywood Tolbert
Predecessor3:Fremont A. Utiger
Successor3:Jeremiah Heath Long
Birth Date:24 July 1836
Birth Place:Jasper County, Georgia, U.S.
Death Place:Greenville, Texas, U.S.
Embed:yes
Burial Place:West Hill Cemetery,
Sherman, Texas, U.S.
Spouse:
    Children:7
    Education:Baylor University (LL.B)
    Allegiance:Confederate States
    Branch:Confederate States Army
    Rank: Captain
    Unit:22nd Texas Cavalry Regiment
    Commands:Company E
    Battles:

    Thomas Jefferson Brown (July 24, 1836 – May 26, 1915) was a justice of the Supreme Court of Texas from May 1893 to May 1915, serving as chief justice from January 1911 to May 1915.[1] He was a member of the Texas House of Representatives and represented the 27th district from 1889 until his resignation in 1892.

    Early life

    Thomas Jefferson Brown was born in Jasper County, Georgia, on July 24, 1836, as the son of Erwin and Mathilda (née Burdette) Brown. His father, Ervin Brown, was originally from North Carolina and moved to Jasper County, Georgia. His mother was from South Carolina, and was the daughter of Henry Burdette, who was a pioneer of Jasper County.[2] He moved at the age of ten with his family to Washington County, Texas. He attended the public schools of Washington County and graduated from Baylor University Law School in 1856, with a Bachelor of Laws degree. He the bar exam the following year.[1] He had practiced law in a partnership with future governor James W. Throckmorton and R. DeArmond.[3] [4] He would go on to serve with Throckmorton in the same regiment in the American Civil War.[5] He was a second lieutenant, and later captain, of the Twenty-second Texas Cavalry Regiment.[6] He resigned before the end of the war due to failing health.[2]

    Career

    After the war, he returned to the practice of law[1] and moved to Sherman in 1872.[3] He served in the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Texas Legislature from 1888 until he resigned on September 5, 1892.[7] He was the Chair of the House Committee on Internal Improvements from 1889[8] and 1891.[9] While a legislator, Brown "focused his energies on establishing regulations to curb corporate aggression and led an effort that resulted in the creation of the Texas Railroad Commission".[1]

    He was a Texas district court judge for Grayson and Collin County from 1892 to 1893.[1] In 1893, he became an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, and held the position until January 1911, when Chief Justice Reuben Reid Gaines resigned and Brown was appointed chief justice.[10]

    In his later years, his eyesight began to fail. At night, he would often walk the grounds of the Texas Capitol with a tall staff similar to a shepherd's crook, with a light hung on the top.[1] He died at Greenville, Texas, of stomach cancer.[4]

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: Thomas Jefferson Brown (1836-1915). https://web.archive.org/web/20210116080051/https://tarltonapps.law.utexas.edu/justices/profile/view/11. January 16, 2021. dead. University of Texas, Tarlton Law Library.
    2. Book: Daniell, Lewis E.. Personnel of the Texas State Government with Sketches of Representative Men of Texas, 22nd Legislature. 1892. San Antionio. Maverick Printing House. Legislative Reference Library of Texas. 262.
    3. Book: Stambaugh. J. Lee. Stambaugh. Lillian J.. A History of Collin County. 1958. Texas State Historical Association. Austin, Texas. 152. University of North Texas Libraries.
    4. Web site: Minor. David. Brown, Thomas Jefferson. Texas State Historical Association. July 2, 2024.
    5. Web site: Kilgore. Deborah K.. Taylor, Robert H.. Texas State Historical Association. July 2, 2024.
    6. Web site: Brown, Thomas J.. National Park Service. Civil War Soldiers.
    7. Web site: Thomas Jefferson Brown. Texas Legislators: Past & Present . Legislative Reference Library of Texas.
    8. Web site: House Committee on Internal Improvements - 21st R.S. (1889). Texas Legislative Reference Library.
    9. Web site: House Committee on Internal Improvements - 21st R.S. (1891). Texas Legislative Reference Library.
    10. Distinguished Successful Americans of Our Day (1912), p. 254.