James_Collinsworth

James Collinsworth

James Collinsworth

American judge

James Thompson Collinsworth (1802 – July 11, 1838) was an American-born Texian lawyer and political figure in early history of the Republic of Texas.

Quick Facts 1st Chief Justice of Texas, Preceded by ...

Early life

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

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

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

  1. [1]
    Zollicoffer Bond, Octavia (November 28, 1909). "The Cockrill Family". The Tennessean. p. 34. Retrieved April 15, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. [2]
    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.
  3. [3]
    McDonald Spaw, Patsy, ed. (1990). The Texas Senate: Republic to Civil War, 1836-1861. Texas A&M University Press. p. 18.
  4. [4]
    Ericson, Joe E. (June 12, 2010). "Collinsworth, James". The Handbook of Texas. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  5. [5]
    Siegel, Stanley (1956). A Political History of the Texas Republic, 1836-1845. The University of Texas Press. p. 98.


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