Terrell, Alexander Watkins, 1827-1912

Alexander Watkins Terrell was born November 3, 1827 in Patrick County, Virginia. In 1832 his family moved to Cooper County, Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Missouri, he read law at Booneville, and was admitted to the Missouri bar in 1849. His first law practice was in St. Joseph. After moving to Austin, Texas (1852), he became judge of the Second Judicial District (1857-1862). In 1863, he enlisted as major in the 1st Texas Cavalry Regiment, Arizona Brigade; after promotion to lieutenant colonel and then colonel, he commanded Terrell's Texas Cavalry, participating in the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill. In 1865, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. Fleeing to Mexico at the end of the civil War, he served briefly under Emperor Maximilian. Upon his return to Texas, he practiced law in Houston for a short time before retiring to his plantation in Robertson County. In 1871 he returned to Austin. From 1876 to 1883 he served four terms in the Texas Senate, and in 1891 he was elected to the first of three terms in the Texas House of Representatives. President Grover Clevel and appointed him minister plenipotentiary to the Ottoman Empire (1893-1897). He was elected as state representative twice more, in 1903 and 1905. Among the legislative bills he authored were the Railroad Commission bill, the bill which donated public land to build the capitol, the bill requiring jurors to be literate, and the Terrell Election Law of 1905 (which began the system of Direct Primaries). From 1909 to 1911, he was on the University of Texas board of regents, and was instrumental in raising funds to build the library building. He was also chairman of the publications committee and, at the time of his death, president, of the Texas State Historical Association. His first wife, and mother of his five children, was Ann Elizabeth Boulding of Missouri, who died in 1860; his second wife, Sarah D. Mitchell of Robinson County, Texas, died in 1871; his third wife, and widow, was Anne Holiday Anderson Jones. Alexander W. Terrell died in Mineral Wells on September 9, 1912, and was buried in the state cemetery. Terrell County was named in his honor.

From the guide to the Papers, 1890-1912, (Repository Unknown)

Alexander Watkins Terrell was born November 3, 1827 in Patrick County, Virginia. In 1832 his family moved to Cooper County, Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Missouri, he read law at Booneville, and was admitted to the Missouri bar in 1849. His first law practice was in St. Joseph. After moving to Austin, Texas (1852), he became judge of the Second Judicial District (1857-1862). In 1863, he enlisted as major in the 1st Texas Cavalry Regiment, Arizona Brigade; after promotion to lieutenant colonel and then colonel, he commanded Terrell's Texas Cavalry, participating in the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill. In 1865, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. Fleeing to Mexico at the end of the Civil War, he served briefly under Emperor Maximilian. Upon his return to Texas, he practiced law in Houston for a short time before retiring to his plantation in Robertson County. In 1871 he returned to Austin. From 1876 to 1883 he served four terms in the Texas Senate, and in 1891 he was elected to the first of three terms in the Texas House of Representatives. President Grover Cleveland appointed him minister plenipotentiary to the Ottoman Empire (1893-1897). He was elected as state representative twice more, in 1903 and 1905. Among the legislative bills he authored were the Railroad Commission bill, the bill which donated public land to build the capitol, the bill requiring jurors to be literate, and the Terrell Election Law of 1905 (which began the system of direct primaries). From 1909 to 1911, he was on the University of Texas board of regents, and was instrumental in raising funds to build the library building. He was also chairman of the publications committee and, at the time of his death, president, of the Texas State Historical Association. His first wife, and mother of his five children, was Ann Elizabeth Boulding of Missouri, who died in 1860; his second wife, Sarah D. Mitchell of Robinson County, Texas, died in 1871; his third wife, and widow, was Anne Holiday Anderson Jones. Alexander W. Terrell died in Mineral Wells on September 9, 1912, and was buried in the state cemetery. Terrell County was named in his honor.

From the guide to the Reminiscences, 1912, (Repository Unknown)

Alexander Watkins Terrell was born November 3, 1827 in Patrick County, Virginia. In 1832 his family moved to Cooper County, Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Missouri, he read law at Booneville, and was admitted to the Missouri bar in 1849. His first law practice was in St. Joseph, Missouri. After moving to Austin, Texas (1852), he became judge of the Second Judicial District (1857-1862). In 1863, he enlisted as major in the 1st Texas Cavalry Regiment, Arizona Brigade; after promotion to lieutenant colonel and then colonel, he commanded Terrell's Texas Cavalry, participating in the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill. In 1865, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. Fleeing to Mexico at the end of the Civil War, he served briefly under Emperor Maximilian. Upon his return to Texas, he practiced law in Houston for a short time before retiring to his plantation in Robertson County. In 1871 he returned to Austin. From 1876 to 1883 he served four terms in the Texas Senate, and in 1891 he was elected to the first of three terms in the Texas House of Representatives. President Grover Cleveland appointed him minister plenipotentiary to the Ottoman Empire (1893-1897). He was elected as state representative twice more, in 1903 and 1905. Among the legislative bills he authored were the Railroad Commission bill, the bill which donated public land to build the capitol, the bill requiring jurors to be literate, and the Terrell Election Law of 1905 (which began the system of direct primaries). From 1909 to 1911, he was on the University of Texas board of regents, and was instrumental in raising funds to build the library building. He was also chairman of the publications committee and, at the time of his death, president, of the Texas State Historical Association. His first wife, and mother of his five children, was Ann Elizabeth Boulding of Missouri, who died in 1860; his second wife, Sarah D. Mitchell of Robertson County, Texas, died in 1871; his third wife, and widow, was Anne Holiday Anderson Jones. Alexander W. Terrell died in Mineral Wells on September 9, 1912, and was buried in the state cemetery. Terrell County was named in his honor.

Lilla Terrell was born in 1853, one of the five children of Alexander Watkins Terrell and his first wife Ann Elizabeth Boulding. Lilla married James E. Rector, and they had four children: James Bouldin Rector (born 1872, named city attorney of Austin in 1909); Richard (Dick) Terrell Rector (born 1874, managing director of the Scientific Temperance Foundation until 1934); Bessie Rector (born 1875); and Arthur Rector (born 1879 or 1880).

From the guide to the Family papers, 1876-1934, (bulk 1890-1910, 1930-1934), (Repository Unknown)

Alexander Watkins Terrell (1827-1921), jurist, Civil War officer, and statesman, attended the University of Missouri. After being admitted to the bar in 1849, he practiced law in St. Joseph, Missouri, before moving to Austin, Texas, in 1852. Terrell served as judge of the state's Second District from 1857 to 1863, when he enlisted in the First Texas Cavalry Regiment, Arizona Brigade, of the Confederate Army, as a major. He fought in the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill. After the war he briefly lived in Mexico.

After returning to Houston, Terrell practiced law privately in 1866. In 1871 he and Judge A. S. Walker formed a law partnership in Austin. He served four terms in the Texas Senate (1876-1884), and two in the House of Representatives (1891-1892 and 1903-1905). Terrell helped pass a number of important acts during his terms, including the Terrell Election Law, and a bill requiring jurors to be able to read and write.

Between Terrell’s two House terms, President Grover Cleveland appointed him minister plenipotentiary to the Ottoman Empire, a post he held until 1897 when he returned to Austin to resume private practice. Governor Thomas Campbell appointed Terrell a regent of the University of Texas in 1909 and Terrell worked to design and raise money for a new library building. Terrell authored a number of volumes of Texas Supreme Court decisions as well as articles, and served as president, in 1912, of the Texas State Historical Association. Terrell died in Mineral Wells, Texas, and was buried in the State Cemetery in Austin. Terrell County is named in his honor.

Source : Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. Terrell, Alexander Watkins, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/TT/fte16.html (accessed June 2, 2010).

From the guide to the Alexander Watkins Terrell Papers 2000-287; 98-327; 84-45., 1877-1912, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)