Legislative library home page
Legislative Reference Library of Texas
your partner in legislative research
Legislative Reference Library of Texas
your partner in legislative research
Skip to main content

Legislative Families: Parents and Children

Nov 4

posted by TexasLRL in Texas history, Legislative families, Members of the Legislature

Leading by example is not just for parents teaching their children to have good manners and be good sports—some children are inspired by their parents' leadership and follow their footsteps into legislative careers. Between 1846 and 2019, more than 100 parent-children sets have served in the Texas Legislature.*

As with the legislative siblings, some parents/children's service overlapped:

  • Oscar Dudley Baker and Oscar Lindsey Baker ^

    • O.D. served in the House, 1921–1925 (37th–38th)
    • Oscar served in the House, 1923–1927 (38th–39th)
  • Spearman Holland and James K. Holland
    • Spearman served in the House, 1846–1847 (1st), 1857–1859 (7th), and 1861–1863 (9th), and in the Senate, 1863–1866 (10th)
    • James served in the House, 1849–1851 (3rd), and 1863 (9th), and in the Senate, 1853–1855 (5th)
  • Eddie Lucio, Jr. and Eddie Lucio III
    • Eddie, Jr. served in the House, 1987–1991 (70th–71st), and serves in the Senate, 1991–present (72nd–86th)
    • Eddie III serves in the House, 2007–present (80th–86th)
  • William Rowland Newton and George Mayo Newton In HCR 20, 46R, W.R.'s memorial resolution, he and George were recognized as "the only combination of a son and father team in each branch of the Legislature at the same time, from the same district, in the history of the Legislature."
    • W.R. served in the Senate, 1937–1938 (45th)
    • George served in the House, 1935–1939 (44th–45th)
  • George Butler Terrell and J. Turney Terrell
    • George served in the House, 1899–1903 (26th–27th), 1907–1913 (30th–32nd), 1917–1920 (35th–36th), and 1931–1933 (42nd)
    • J. Turney served in the House, 1930–1933 (41st–42nd)

Most parents and children served in different years:

*This blog post is the third in a series, with previous posts on legislative spouses and legislative siblings, and a post to come on other family connections. We've attempted to identify all of the legislative parents/children, but let us know if you think we missed some! This information is provided as a public service by the Legislative Reference Library. The Legislative Reference Library makes no representation as to its completeness or accuracy and makes no warranty in regard to its use. Users assume all risk of reliance on the information included on this site.

 

^Many of the fathers and sons were "Senior" and "Junior," or at least shared the same first name. If we did not find indication of nicknames, we used "FirstName, Sr./Jr." on the second reference. In cases where we believe legislators had a preference for a nickname or abbreviated name, we used that name on the second reference.

 

This entry was posted on November 4, 2019 at 10:05 AM and has received 1282 views. Print this entry.

Legislative Families: Siblings

Oct 15

posted by TexasLRL in Texas history, Legislative families, Members of the Legislature

The Texas Legislature has seen many siblings who have legislative service in common. As of 2019, there have been 46 sibling sets!* Read on for a list of brothers and sisters who have shared time in the Capitol (along with some interesting details about a few of these family units).

 

Ten sets of siblings have had overlap in their years of service (though not necessarily in the same chamber): 

  • Dennis Bonnen and Greg Bonnen

    • Dennis serves in the House, 1997–present (75th–86th)
    • Greg serves in the House, 2013–present (83rd–86th)
  • William H. Bourland and James G. Bourland
    • William served in the House, 1846–1849 (1st–2nd), and 1853–1855 (5th)
    • James served in the Senate, 1846–1849 (1st–2nd)
  • James Washington Guinn and Robert Guinn
    • Robert served in the Senate, 1853–1870 (5th–11th)
    • James served in the House, 1863–1866 (10th–11th)
  • Ross Hardin and Doss Hardin The first and only twins to serve in the Texas Legislature. Read a speech given by Doss Hardin at Baylor University's 1939 "Convention of Twins" that was read into the Senate Journal record.
    • Ross served in the House, 1935–1941 (44th–46th)
    • Doss served in the Senate, 1938–1940 (45th–46th)
  • Jim Keffer and Bill Keffer
    • Jim served in the House, 1997–2017 (75th–84th)
    • Bill served in the House, 2003–2007 (78th–79th)
  • William Henry Pope and Alexander Pope In an act of brotherly devotion, Alexander died when shot by W.T.S. Keller "while endeavoring to prevent him from shooting his brother, W.H. Pope" during a child custody trial. William was shot but survived the assault.
    • William served in the Senate, 1883–1893 (18th–22nd)
    • Alexander served in the House, 1887–1889 (20th–21st)
  • Joseph Draper Sayers and William Sayers
    • Joseph served in the Senate, 1873–1874 (13th)
    • William served in the House, 1873–1876 (13th–14th)
  • Henry Berryman Terrell and George Butler Terrell The Terrells appear to be the first brothers to serve at the same time, in the same chamber.
    • H.B. served in the House, 1901–1909 (27th–30th), and in the Senate, 1909–1915 (31st–34th)
    • George served in the House, 1899–1903 (26th–27th), 1907–1913 (30th–32nd), 1917–1920 (35th–36th), and 1931–1933 (42nd)
  • Carlos Uresti and Tomas Uresti
    • Carlos served in the House, 1997–2006 (75th–79th), and in the Senate, 2006–2018 (79th–85th)
    • Tomas served in the House, 2017–2019 (85th)
  • Phillip L. Willis and Doyle Willis The Willis brothers are noted as the first siblings to serve two consecutive terms together in the Texas House of Representatives (HR 95, 74R).
    • Phillip served in in the House, 1947–1949 (50th–51st)
    • Doyle served in the House, 1947–1953 (50th–52nd), 1969–1971 (61st), and 1973–1997 (63rd–74th), and in the Senate, 1953–1963 (53rd–57th) 

No siblings have served at the same time in the Senate, according to our research.

 

Other siblings served in the Legislature at different times:

*This blog post is the second in a series, with a previous post on legislative spouses, and posts to come on legislative parents/children, and other family connections. We've attempted to identify all of the legislative siblings, but let us know if you think we missed some! This information is provided as a public service by the Legislative Reference Library. The Legislative Reference Library makes no representation as to its completeness or accuracy and makes no warranty in regard to its use. Users assume all risk of reliance on the information included on this site.

 

This entry was posted on October 15, 2019 at 10:40 AM and has received 1276 views. Print this entry.

Succeeding Spouses

Jan 17

posted by TexasLRL in Texas history, Legislative families

Over the years, the Texas Legislature has seen several spouses follow in their partner's legislative footsteps. On our Women Members of the Texas Legislature, 1923-present page, footnotes indicate the five instances in which a legislator succeeded her spouse in an unexpired term following his death, and the three wives who served as temporary acting representatives during their husbands' military deployments. (Footnotes also point out where women were elected but never sworn into a legislator's role.) 

  • Maribelle Stewart appears to be the first wife to complete her husband's term in the Texas Legislature following his death. W. Lacy Stewart (Senate, 50th Legislature) passed away on March 22, 1947. Maribelle won a special election to fill the vacancy, but she resigned her seat representing Senate District 16 in 1948 when she remarried.
  • Persis Henderson (House, 51st) succeeded her husband, A. Robin Henderson (House, 49th-51st) in representing House District 61 when he died on March 15, 1949. Persis won a special election to fill the seat (running as Mrs. A. Robin Henderson); she announced for reelection to a full term but withdrew her candidacy, citing low legislative pay and the high cost of living in Austin.
  • Sue Hairgrove (House, 60th) won a special election to succeed her husband, Jim Hairgrove (House, 60th) for the House District 20-F seat when he passed away on April 12, 1967.
  • Lou Nelle Sutton (House, 64th-70th) succeeded her husband, G.J. Sutton (House, 63rd-64th), following his death on June 22, 1976, and her special election win to represent House District 57-E on August 7, 1976. Lou Nelle went on to be reelected to the 65th-70th Legislatures.
  • Myra Crownover (House, 76th-84th), in a May 2000 special election, succeeded her husband, Ronny Crownover, (House, 76th) following his death on March 26, 2000. She continued to represent House District 64 for nearly two decades.
  • Valerie Corte (House, 79th, 81st), Cheri Isett (House, 79th), and Melissa Noriega (House, 79th) were selected by their husbands to serve as temporary acting representatives during military deployments. Frank Corte (House, 73rd-81st) was called to military service during his legislative service twice; Carl Isett (75th-81st) and Rick Noriega (House, 76th-80th) were each called once during their time in the House. 

In addition to spouses filling unexpired terms, there are several other cases where spouses succeeded their partners in the legislature, separated by a few years or by redistricting. (And in the first case, separated by divorce, too.)

  • Neveille Colson (House, 46th-50th Legislatures; Senate, 51st-59th Legislatures), the first woman to serve in both chambers of the legislature, was elected to represent House District 27 a couple years after her then-husband, Nall Colson (House, 43rd-44th), lost the seat. The couple divorced in 1938, before Neveille took office in 1939.
  • Betty Denton (House, 65th-73rd) represented McLennan County, House District 35-A, following her husband, Lane Denton (House, 62nd-64th), who resigned the House District 35-1 seat to run for the Texas Railroad Commission. Redistricting meant that while they represented the same county, the district was different.
  • Sam Harless (House, 86th) appears to be the first husband to fill a seat formerly occupied by a wife. He was elected in November 2018 to serve House District 126; Patricia Harless served the district from the 80th-84th Legislatures.
  • Angela Paxton (Senate, 86th-87th), elected in November 2018, serves Senate District 8, the same seat that her husband, current Attorney General Ken Paxton (House, 78th-82nd, Senate, 83rd), occupied.
  • Frances Rountree and Cora Strong were the first widows of legislators elected to serve in the Texas Legislature, both serving as representatives in the 42nd Legislature. Cora's husband, N.R. Strong, died while representing House District 55 during the 41st Legislature. Cora was elected to the seat for the following session. Frances' husband, Lee J. Rountree (House, 37th-38th), died at his desk in the House chamber in 1923. In 1930, running as "Mrs. Lee J. Rountree," Frances was elected to the House; however, redistricting in the intervening years changed the House District number for Brazos County from 22 to 26.

This blog post is the first in a series, with posts to come on legislative siblings, parents/children, and other family connections.

This entry was posted on January 17, 2019 at 9:15 AM and has received 1730 views. Print this entry.