Texas Legislators: Past & Present

John Frank Onion

Full Name: John Frank Onion
Birth date: February 28, 1862
Death date: October 31, 1918

Terms of Service

House, 30th ⁽¹⁾ Legislature
1/8/1907 - 11/14/1908
Democrat
House, 29th Legislature
1/10/1905 - 1/8/1907
Democrat
House, 28th Legislature
1/13/1903 - 1/10/1905
Democrat
House, 23rd ⁽²⁾ Legislature
1/10/1893 - 3/23/1894
Democrat

(1) Onion resigned 11/14/1908. Members of the Texas Congress 1836-1845; Members of the Texas Legislature 1846-2004 2005.
(2) Onion resigned 3/23/1894. Members of the Texas Congress 1836-1845; Members of the Texas Legislature 1846-2004 2005.

Biographical Notes and Resources

Resolutions and Journal entries

Mentioned in 86th Legislature, R.S., HR 942, In memory of former presiding judge John F. "Jack" Onion, Jr., of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, "grandson of former state representative John Frank Onion." Resolutions - Memorial .

Photographs

Photograph. J.F. Onion, Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Photograph. J.T. Onion, State Preservation Board
Photograph. J.F. Onion, State Preservation Board
Photograph. J.F. Onion, State Preservation Board
Photograph. J.F. Onion, State Preservation Board

Other Resources

Biographical sketch of John F. Onion in oral history of his grandson. John F. Onion (died 1918) elected to Texas House of Representatives from Tyler and San Antonio; came to Tyler, Smith County, Texas, from Harrison County, Indiana in 1877; marriage to Victoria Harper; four children.
John F. Onion's son was Frank Leslie Onion (1890-1955), who later took the name John F. Onion, Jr. ("Pete"), "then dropped the 'Junior,' as many families did in those days when the Senior—they didn‘t call them 'Seniors'—when the elder person with the name died." John F. "Pete" Onion's son was John F. Onion, Jr., born 1925. Oral Memoirs of John Frank Onion Jr., 5/17/2010. Baylor University Institute for Oral History, Baylor University .
Obituary and photo, "John F. Onion Dies After Brief Illness: Body Will Be Shipped to San Antonio Tonight for Burial; Prominent Dallas Man Who Died Yesterday," 11/1/1918, p. 7. Born 2/28/1862 in Harrison County, Indiana; died 10/31/1918. In 1892, "elected to the lower House from Smith County. At the end of the Twenty-Third Legislature he moved to Bexar County and was elected to the Twenty-Eighth, Twenty-Ninth and Thirtieth Legislatures." Dallas Morning News .
John F. Onion, birth date 2/28/1862 in Indiana; death date 10/31/1918 in Dallas, Dallas County, Texas; lawyer, Vice President Southland Life. FamilySearch Texas Deaths, 1890-1976 .
John F. Onion, birth date 2/28/1862, death date 10/31/1918, burial in Knights of Pythias Cemetery, San Antonio, Bexar County. Includes reprint of obituary in the San Antonio Light, 11/2/1918. Find a Grave .
J.F. Onion, member of the Texas Legislature, mentioned in biographical sketch of grandson John Frank ("Jack") Onion, Jr., Presiding Judge, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, 1971-1988, and Judge, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, 1967-1970. Justices of Texas, 1836-1986 (Tarlton Law Library, The University of Texas at Austin) 2004.
Obituary, "Funeral of Judge Onion to Be Held Here Today," San Antonio Express, 11/3/1918, p. 24, crediting the Abilene Library Consortium. Death date 10/31/1918. Represented Tyler and San Antonio in the state legislature. Portal to Texas History (University of North Texas Libraries) .
29th Legislature (1905) - J.F. Onion, postoffice San Antonio, nativity Indiana, age 42 (born circa 1863), lawyer, Democrat. Texas Legislative Manual .