Robert McAlpine Wagstaff

Biographical Information top

Resolutions and Journal entries

• 63rd Legislature, R.S., HCR 143. Resolutions - Memorial.

Biographical Sketches

• WAGSTAFF, ROBERT MCALPINE (1892-1973). Relatives: father - John Miles Wagstaff, son - Robert McAlpine Wagstaff. Handbook of Texas Online.
• Memorial, September 1973, p. 857. Texas Bar Journal.

Military Service Notes

• United States Army, Captain, National Guard, World War I. 142nd Infantry, 36th Division, and 71st Infantry Brigade to discharge. Robert McAlpine Wagstaff, birth date 9/2/1892 in Abilene, Texas; residence in Abilene, Taylor County. FamilySearch Texas World War I Records, 1917-1920 (Texas Military Forces Museum, Austin).
• Captain, 12th Infantry. Robert McAlpine Wagstaff, birth date 9/2/1892, residence in Abilene, enlistment date 4/6/1917, discharge date 6/17/1919. FamilySearch United States Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940, 1985.
• Texas Brigade; United States Army, Major, World War I. "In Austin he joined the Texas Brigade, and in 1916, a month before he was to graduate from law school, he was called to active duty on the border during raids of Francisco (Pancho) Villa. Wagstaff received his law degree in absentia and was admitted to the bar in 1916. After the United States declared war on Germany, he was sent back to Abilene to organize Company I, Seventh Texas Infantry, the region's first National Guard unit. The company trained locally and at Camp Bowie in Fort Worth. With the merger of Texas and Oklahoma units, it became the headquarters company, 142d Infantry, Thirty-sixth Division (see THIRTY-SIXTH INFANTRY DIVISION). After service in Europe, Wagstaff retired as a major and returned to Abilene to join the Wagstaff law firm." Handbook of Texas Online.
• Data on U.S. Army Divisions during World War I, 36th Division (Texas and Oklahoma National Guard). RootsWeb.com Internet genealogical service.

Other Resources

• Obituary and photo, "Attorney Wagstaff, Author of Oil Laws, Dies at 80," 4/9/1973, pp. 1A, 10A. "Robert M. Wagstaff, Abilene attorney who authored basic Texas laws on oil and gas conservation and water priority . . . He wrote and sponsored with Sen. Walter Woodward the Wagstaff-Woodward Act that set up the water priority system that is still in effect. He authored legislation which set up the state assumption of local road bonds, laying a foundation for the modern highway system. And he pushed through legislation setting aside Big Bend land as a state park, an action which made the present national park possible." Abilene Reporter-News.
• Robert M. Wagstaff, birth date 9/2/1892 in Texas; death date 4/9/1973 in Abilene, Taylor County; attorney. FamilySearch Texas Deaths, 1890-1977.
• Robert M. Wagstaff (1892-1973), photo, burial in Elmwood Memorial Park, Abilene, Taylor County. Find a Grave.
• WBAP-TV (Television station : Fort Worth, Tex.). [News Script: Wagstaff obit], script, 4/9/1973, crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections. Portal to Texas History (University of North Texas Libraries).

Photographs

• Photograph. R.M. Wagstaff, 43rd Legislature, State Preservation Board
• Photograph. R.M. Wagstaff, 42nd Legislature, State Preservation Board

Composite Photographs on Display in the Capitol

• 42nd session composite photo of House members (3rd floor back hall, east wall. 3W.C1). State Preservation Board.
• 43rd session composite photo of House members (3rd floor back hall, east wall. 3W.C1). State Preservation Board.

Committee Information top