15th Texas Legislature

The 15th Texas Legislature met from April 18 to August 21, 1876, in its regular session. All members of the House of Representatives and about half of the members of the Senate were elected in 1875.

Sessions

15th Regular session: April 18 – August 21, 1876

Party summary

Officers

Senate

Lieutenant Governor: Richard Bennett Hubbard, Jr., Democrat
President pro tempore: Wells Thompson, Democrat

House of Representatives

Speaker of the House: Thomas Reuben Bonner, Democrat

Members

Members of the Fifteenth Texas Legislature as of the beginning of the Regular Session, April 18, 1876:

Senate

District	Senator	Party	Took office
1	Edwin Hobby	Democrat	1874
2	Peyton Forbes Edwards	Democrat	1876
3	James W. Motley	Democrat	1876
4	Walter Riptoe	Republican	1876
5	Francis M. Henry	Democrat	1876
6	William Amos Wortham	Democrat	1876
7	James Postell Douglas	Democrat	1876 (Prior: 1870–1872)
8	Christopher C. Francis	Democrat	1876
9	Charles D. Grace	Democrat	1876
10	B. D. Martin	Democrat	1876
11	William Blassingame	Democrat	1876
12	Finis E. Piner	Democrat	1876
13	Robert S. Guy	Democrat	1876
14	John R. Henry	Democrat	1876
15	Thomas J. McCulloch	Democrat	1876
16	Tillman Smith	Democrat	1876
17	Walter Moses Burton	Republican	1874
18	John Thomas Brady		1876
19	Andrew Phelps McCormick	Republican	1876
20	John W. Carroll	Democrat	1876
21	William M. Brown	Democrat	1876
22	John W. Moore	Democrat	1876 (Prior: 1861–1865)
23	Thomas Ball	Democrat	1876
24	John D. Stephens	Democrat	1876
25	Alexander Watkins Terrell	Democrat	1876
26	William Hamilton Ledbetter	Democrat	1874
27	Wells Thompson	Democrat	1876
28	William Henry Crain	Democrat	1876
29	John Salmon "Rip" Ford	Democrat	1876 (Prior: 1851–1853)
30	James Harvey McLeary	Democrat	1876
31	Leonidas Jefferson Storey	Democrat	1876

House of Representatives

Logan Henderson McCorkle, Sulphur Springs

^ Representative Wilder won a closely contested election, but House Democrats contended that some votes were illegal and seated his Democratic opponent instead.

Membership changes

District	Outgoing Senator	Reason for Vacancy	Successor	Date of Successor's Installation
District 16	Tillman Smith	Smith resigned November 19, 1876.	James R. Burnett	January 14, 1879^[2]
District 28	William Henry Crain	Crain resigned August 20, 1877.	Ellsberry R. Lane	January 14, 1879^[3]

^[4] Sworn in at the beginning of the Sixteenth Texas Legislature.

External links

Texas Legislature Online
Texas Senate
Texas House of Representatives
Election Results from the Office of the Secretary of State
Legislative Reference Library

[1]

[2]