Wickliffe-Preston family.

Politicians, soldiers.

Robert Wickliffe (1775-1859) was a successful attorney and early settler of Kentucky. He served in the state legislature as a representative from Fayette County in 1819, 1823 and 1825, and as state senator from 1825 to 1833. Wickliffe's daughter, Margaret, married General William Preston (1816-1887) in 1840. Preston, a native Kentuckian, served as lieutenant colonel of the Fourth Kentucky Infantry in the Mexican War, was elected to several state offices and served in Congress. In 1858 he was appointed envoy to Spain but returned to this country in 1861 and joined the Confederate Army. During the Civil War he served as Confederate's States Minister to Mexico, a mission which ultimately failed. In 1866 he and his family returned to Fayette County from their government-imposed exile in Canada.

In 1875 Preston was elected President of the Texas Association, an organization which sought to reclaim Texas lands once held by the Association. Under Preston's leadership litigation regarding the Association's claims on Texas land eventually reached the Supreme Court where the decision went against them.