Roberts, Oran Milo, 1815-1898

Oran Milo Roberts (1815–1898) was a jurist and governor of Texas, 1879-1883. He graduated from the University of Alabama in 1836, was admitted to the bar in 1837, and moved in 1841 to San Augustine, Texas, where he opened a successful law practice. In 1844, Sam Houston appointed Roberts district attorney of San Augustine, and in 1866, Governor James Pinckney Henderson appointed him district judge. Roberts also taught law at the University of San Augustine.

Roberts earned a position on the Texas Supreme Court in 1856, and in 1861 was elected president of the Secession Convention in Austin. After a brief military career in the Eleventh Texas Infantry of Walker’s Texas Division, which he helped raise and organize, Roberts returned to Austin. There he served as chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court, 1864-1865.

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