David Abner, Sr.

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Resolutions and Journal entries

• 79th Legislature, R.S., HR 589, paying tribute to African American legislators and constitutional convention delegates of 1868-1900. Resolutions - Congratulatory and Honorary.
• 81st Legislature, R.S., HCR 81, paying tribute to African American legislators and constitutional convention delegates. Resolutions - Congratulatory and Honorary.
• 85th Legislature, R.S., HR 452, celebrating Black History Month and honoring the leadership and vision of African American lawmakers. Resolutions - Congratulatory and Honorary.
• 88th Legislature, R.S., SCR 13, Recognizing the Texas Black Reconstruction Legislators Recognition Act. SB 667, Texas Black Reconstruction Legislators Recognition Act. Resolutions - Congratulatory and Honorary. SB 667 SCR 13
• 88th Legislature, R.S., SCR 13, Recognizing the Texas Black Reconstruction Legislators Recognition Act. SB 667, Texas Black Reconstruction Legislators Recognition Act. Resolutions - Legislative Policy. SB 667 SCR 13

Biographical Sketches

• Biographical sketch of son David Abner, Jr., pp. 102-103. Black Texans: a History of African Americans in Texas, 1528-1995, 1996.
• Biographical sketch of David Abner, Sr. (1820-?), "legislator from Harrison County beginning in 1874 . . . died around the turn of the century," and David Abner, Jr. (1860-1928). Texas Trailblazer series, Houston Place Preservation Association, September 1992. College Park Cemetery Association.
• Portrait and biographical sketch, Forever Free: Nineteenth Century African-American Legislators and Constitutional Convention Delegates of Texas, 2002.
• ABNER, DAVID, SR. (1826-1902). Handbook of Texas Online.
• Biographical sketch, "Author dispels some reconstruction myths," 2/21/1992, p. 2. "He was born a slave in Alabama in 1820 and came to Texas 22 years later. When freedom came, he went to see the sister of his first owner in Alabama, Mrs. Fannie Richardson of Marshall. She lent Abner the money for a mule and some farm equipment and rented his 40 acres on credit. By 1870, he owned 300 acres and reported a cotton crop of 150 bales." Marshall News Messenger.
• Biographical sketches of "outstanding descendants" of David Abner, Sr.: David Abner, Jr., and Dr. E.W.D. Abner, pp. 42-43. Negro Legislators of Texas and Their Descendants: A History of the Negro in Texas Politics from Reconstruction to Disfranchisement, 1935.
• Biographical sketch, pp. 42-43, born in Selma, Alabama in 1820; one of six African-American delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1875, pp. 51-54, Appendix A. Birth year 1826, death year 1902, Appendix D. Through Many Dangers, Toils, and Snares: Black Leadership in Texas, 1868-1898, 2016.

Other Resources

• One of six African-American delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1875, Volume II, p. 732. East Texas: Its History and Its Makers, 1940.
• David Abner, Sr. (1826-1906), burial in Powder Mill Cemetery, Marshall, Harrison County. Find a Grave.
• Mentioned in Chapter VI, "Black Belt Politics." The Negro in Texas, 1874-1900, 1971.
• Mentioned in Negro Legislators of Texas and Their Descendants, 1970.
• Delegate to Constitutional Convention, 1875. Included in Journal of the Constitutional Convention of the State of Texas: Begun and Held at the City of Austin Texas. Constitutional Convention (1875). Galveston : Printed for the Convention at the "News" Office, 1875, pp. 3-4. Texas Constitutions Digitization Project (Tarlton Law Library, The University of Texas at Austin), 2009.

Photographs

• Photograph. David Abnar, 14th Legislature, State Preservation Board
• Photograph. David Abner, Sr., State Preservation Board
• Photograph. David Abner, Constitutional Convention of 1875 Composite Photo. From the collection of the Texas State Library and Archives Commisison.

Composite Photographs on Display in the Capitol

• 14th session composite photo of Senate and House members (Ground floor elevator vestibule, east wall. GW.V3). State Preservation Board.

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