Hickman, John E. (John Edward), 1883-1962

One of seven children, John Edward Hickman (1883-1962) was born to Nathaniel Franklin Hickman and Mary J. (Porterfield) Hickman on a farm in Liberty Hill, Williamson County, Texas. After the death of his father at a young age, Hickman worked to help support the family. A graduate of Liberty Hill Normal and Business College, Hickman taught school first at Hog Mountain in Bell County and then in Lampasas, where he served as principal of the high school for two years. Hickman graduated from the Law Department of the University of Texas at Austin in 1910 and acted as Quizmaster from 1910 to 1911. Thereafter, he attended the 1911 class reunions regularly.

In 1910, Hickman was admitted to the Texas Bar and practiced law for 16 years, first in Dublin and later in Breckenridge. Two years after the death of his first wife, Ethel Markward, Hickman married Lena Pettit in 1923 and moved to Breckenridge. He was elected as an Associate Justice of the Eastland Court of Civil Appeals in 1926 and delivered his first opinion the following year. Hickman continued to serve on that court until 1935, when he was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court to succeed Judge Richard Critz. He became an Associate Judge following a constitutional amendment increasing the number of justices to nine in 1945. Upon the death of Judge James P. Alexander, Governor Beauford Jester appointed Hickman Chief Justice, to which position he was reelected in 1948 and 1954 without major opposition. From 1952 to 1953, he served as the Chairman of the Conference of Chief Justices and retired from the Texas Supreme Court in 1960.

Hickman’s second wife, Lena Pettit Hickman, was president of the State Officials Ladies Club and the Austin Lawyers Wives Club. In 1971, the Austin American-Statesman named her one of Austin’s outstanding women. She was also an active member of the University Methodist Church in Austin with her husband, who organized and taught a popular men’s Sunday school class for over thirty years. He also served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Southern Methodist University from 1921 until his death.