Texas Legislators: Past & Present

John T. Harcourt

Full Name: John T. Harcourt
Birth date: June 9, 1825
Death date: July 15, 1903

Terms of Service

Senate, 10th ⁽¹⁾ Legislature
11/2/1863 - 8/6/1866
Senate, 9th ⁽²⁾ ⁽³⁾ Legislature
11/4/1861 - 11/2/1863

(1) 10th Legislature, Regular Session - Roll call of Senators elect, oath of office administered, 11/2/1863, p. 1. Senate Journal .
(2) 9th Legislature, Regular Session - Roll of Senators, oath of office administered, 11/4/1861, p. 1. Senate Journal .
(3) 9th Legislature, Regular Session - Classification of Senators (drawing for terms of office) - drew "the short term" (two years), 11/12/1861, p. 42. Senate Journal .

Biographical Notes and Resources

Resolutions and Journal entries

9th Legislature, Regular Session - Portrait, John T. Harcourt, District 22; Chairman, Judiciary Committee. Senate Journal .
Member roster, 9th Legislature, Regular Session: name, district, resident county, post office, state of nativity, occupation, and age. Senate Journal .

Other Resources

Biographical sketch, Judge John T. Harcourt, pp. 359-360. Biographical Souvenir of the State of Texas, Containing Biographical Sketches of the Representative Public, and Many Early Settled Families 1889.
John T. Harcourt, birth date 6/9/1825, death date 7/15/1903, portrait, biographical sketch, burial in City Greenwood Cemetery, Weatherford, Parker County. Find a Grave .
Announcement of John T. Harcourt as a candidate for District Judge of the 1st Judicial District, 5/23/1866, p. 2. Galveston Daily News .
Essay on Hon. John T. Harcourt recommending his appointment as United States Senator by the Legislature, author unknown, Colorado. Columbus, 7/26/1866, printed 8/2/1866, p. 1. Describes Harcourt's term in the Texas Senate; "the journals show him to have been one of the most attentive, zealous and energetic members of that body." Galveston Daily News .
John T. Harcourt, State Senator during the Confederacy, unsuccessful candidate for district judge on 6/25/1866, and a "longtime Democratic party activist who remained an active conservative through Reconstruction." Randolph B. Campbell, "The District Judges of Texas in 1866-1867: An Episode in the Failure of Presidential Reconstruction," The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. 93, No. 3, January 1990, p. 362, crediting Texas State Historical Association. Portal to Texas History (University of North Texas Libraries) .
Biographical sketch and portrait, Judge John T. Harcourt, pp. 156-157. Birth date 6/9/1825. "In 1860 he was elected to the state senate from the counties of Fayette, Colorado, Matagorda and Wharton, and this position he filled until the close of the warn, having been re-elected in 1864 without opposition. After the final surrender, the state government was overthrown and he was retired from office. While senator he was the author of two measures to check the encroachments of the military upon the civil power, both of which were adopted, and attracted considerable attention at the time." The Encyclopedia of the New West 1881.
Captain of company of militia with Commanding General McGruder to defend the state from invasion (1863). The Encyclopedia of the New West 1881.
Mentioned, p. 13. The Texas Senate: Volume II, Civil War to the Eve of Reform, 1861-1889 1999.