Terrell, Alexander Watkins

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.