Texas Legislators: Past & Present

William Dixon Lair

Full Name: William Dixon Lair
Birth date: May 12, 1814
Death date: June 3, 1887

Terms of Service

Senate, 17th ⁽¹⁾ ⁽³⁾ & 16th ⁽⁴⁾ ⁽⁷⁾ ⁽⁸⁾ Legislatures
1/14/1879 - 1/9/1883
Democrat
Senate, 9th ⁽²⁾ ⁽⁵⁾ ⁽⁶⁾ Legislature
2/2/1863 - 11/2/1863

(1) Democrat, 11/17/1880, p. 2. Galveston Daily News .
(2) William Lair, sworn 2/2/1863, succeeded J.J. Dickson, resigned. Members of the Texas Congress 1836-1845; Members of the Texas Legislature 1846-2004 2005.
(3) Democrat. Pocket Directory of the Seventeenth Legislature of Texas 1881.
(4) 16th Legislature, Regular Session - Roll call of newly elected Senators, oath of office administered, 1/14/1879, p. 3. Senate Journal .
(5) 9th Legislature, 1st Called Session - Roll of Senators-elect to fill vacancies, oath of office administered, 2/2/1863, p. 1. Senate Journal .
(6) 9th Legislature, Regular Session - Classification of Senators (drawing for terms of office) - predecessor J.J. Dickson drew "the short term" (two years), 11/12/1861, p. 42. Senate Journal .
(7) Democrat. Texas Legislative Manual, 1879-80 1879.
(8) Democrat - "After his election as a Democrat in 1878 . . . ," p. 255. The Texas Senate: Volume II, Civil War to the Eve of Reform, 1861-1889 1999.

Biographical Notes and Resources

Resolutions and Journal entries

Member roster, 9th Legislature, 1st Called Session: name, district, resident county, post office, state of nativity, occupation, and age. Senate Journal .

Photographs

Photograph. W.D. Lair, State Preservation Board

Other Resources

Dr. William Dixon Lair, burial in Lair Cemetery, Anna, Collin County. Grave marker illegible. Includes reprint of biographical sketch from The Daily Courier Gazette, May 1929. Find a Grave .
William Dixon Lair, "Dr. W.D. Lair Pioneer Collin Physician and Senator," photo, 5/9/1929, p. 2. Born 5/12/1814 in Russell County, Kentucky; died 6/3/1887. Served in Texas Senate and Kentucky Legislature.
Mentioned in "The Lair Family," by Mrs. Ethel Bridgefarmer, 8/21/1936, p. 3. McKinney Weekly Democrat-Gazette .
Biographical sketch, pp. 242-243. Texas Legislative Manual, 1879-80 1879.
Biographical sketch, pp. 12, 255; service in 16th-17th Senate, pp. 254-255, 279. Served four years in Kentucky legislature before moving to Texas in 1859. The Texas Senate: Volume II, Civil War to the Eve of Reform, 1861-1889 1999.