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S.
W. T. Lanham, United States representative and twenty-second governor of
the state of Texas, was born on July 4, 1846, to James Madison and
Louisa de Aubrey (Tucker) Lanham in Spartanburg District (now County),
South Carolina, and named for his maternal grandfather, Samuel Willis
Tucker. He was the oldest of eight children; he had four sisters and
three brothers. He received a common-school education at Glenn Springs,
South Carolina. In 1861, at age 15 he left school to join the Confederate Army as a private in the service of Company K, Third South Carolina Regiment, Joseph B. Kershaw's brigade. The unit served primarily with the Army of Northern Virginia but also saw action in Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Lanham was wounded at the battle of Spotsylvania in May 1864. He was promoted to second sergeant near the end of the war and surrendered with his command at Greensboro, North Carolina. On September 4, 1866, Lanham married Sarah Beona Meng of Union County, South Carolina. They were the parents of the following children: Edwin Lanham, Dr. Howard Lanham, Waco; Fritz G. Lanham, Fort Worth; Mrs. Grace (Edward C.) Connor, Dallas and Frank V. Lanham, Dallas. The couple left for Texas the next month with nineteen other people and arrived in Red River County in December. Lanham took a job teaching in a country school near Clarksville and later taught at Old Boston after moving to Bowie County. In 1868 he moved his family to Weatherford, where he taught school in one room of a log cabin and he and Mrs. Lanham lived in the other room. His assistant teacher was Miss Mary Dyer, who later married the famous cattleman, Col. Charles Goodnight.. At the same time he studied law and was admitted to the bar in Weatherford in 1869. As a lawyer he was in partnership with A. J. Hood, A.. T Watts, I. N. Roach, Albert Stevenson, I.W. Stephens, H. L. Moseley, and George A. McCall, Sr. He was also associated with J. N. English, of Cleburne, in the practice of law in Johnson County.
Lanham, a Democrat, began his political career in 1880, when he was chosen as an elector for the Hancock-English presidential ticket. In November 1882 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives from the Eleventh District of Texas, known as the "jumbo" district because it consisted of ninety-eight counties. He served five terms, until March 4, 1893 and voluntarily retired. His majority at his last election was nearly 38,000 votes. He made an unsuccessful run for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1894, losing to Charles A. Culberson. He was again elected to Congress in 1896 and represented the Eighth District until January 1903. While in Congress, much of Governor Lanham’s attention and public service were devoted to local state measures, of which there were many owing to the large territorial extent of his district. He first speech in Congress was in the interest of constituents engaged in the cattle business, by preventing unfriendly discrimination and hostile quarantine regulations. The claims of Texas citizens on account of Indian depredations received his earnest consideration, for having lived on the frontier, he was personally aware of the nature of many of these claims and labored faithfully to secure recognition of their merits and to obtain their adjudication and final payment. Important boundary questions required much of his time, since several hundred miles of his district bordered on the Rio Grande River, involving many complications and commercial controversies demanding his attention. He
helped to secure a federal court at El Paso, and also the erection of a
public building for a courthouse, customhouse and post office, and the
establishment of a large military post there. He did much departmental
work in the promotion of mail facilities and Lanham secured the 1902 Democratic nomination for governor with no opposition. His old comrades realized that he would be the last Confederate Soldier to become governor, and hailed his candidacy with an appeal to the Veterans. His recount of the hardships of the Confederate Soldier and appeal to the Veterans was without doubt the most touching piece of oratory ever heard in Texas. His campaign was supported by Edward M. House, who dominated Texas politics for over a decade before becoming the confidential advisor of president Woodrow Wilson. Lanham defeated Republican George W. Burkett in the November general election. In 1904 he was reelected, defeating J. G. Lowden. Lanham was the last Confederate veteran to serve as governor of Texas. During his tenure, the Terrell Election Law, which provided for party primary elections, was enacted. As a result, he was the last Democratic gubernatorial candidate to be chosen by the party-convention method. After serving out his second term as governor, he retired to Weatherford in failing health in 1907.
He
was considered an eloquent speaker and writer, and often made speeches
at Confederate veterans' camps throughout Texas. In 1868 he joined the
Masons. He received
Sarah Lanham died in Weatherford on July 2, 1908. On July 29, 1908, Lanham also died in Weatherford, where he was buried. Five of the Lanhams' eight children lived to adulthood. Their son Frederick Garland Lanham served in the United States House of Representatives from 1919 to 1947. Texas novelist Edwin M. Lanham, Jr., was their grandson. Ben Lanham, Governor Lanham’s brother, was one of the Parker County’s early settlers, and one of the first District Clerks in the County. He was well known and well liked and his untimely death in the 1870’s curtailed a career which may have paralleled that of his illustrious brother.
This information on Governor Lanham is derived directly from History of Parker County and The Double Log Cabin by G.A. Holland, assisted by Violet M. Roberts, published by The Herald Publishing Company, Weatherford, Texas, 1937 BIBLIOGRAPHY: History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Tarrant and Parker Counties (Chicago: Lewis, 1895). Frank W. Johnson, A History of Texas and Texans (5 vols., ed. E. C. Barker and E. W. Winkler [Chicago and New York: American Historical Society, 1914; rpt. 1916]). Sidney S. Johnson, Texans Who Wore the Gray (Tyler, Texas, 1907). Virgil Madison Rogers, Family History: Rogers-McCravy-Lanham (Strasburg, Virginia, 1975). Lawrence A. Landis Congressman Lanham Robbed!
Just like the stage line, the railroad was an easy target for thieves, particularly at the wooden trestle bridge over Mary's Creek. In 1886, Congressman S.W.T. Lanham (later to be elected as Governor) was a victim of a robbery near Benbrook while traveling from Weatherford to Fort Worth to give a speech on prohibition. (Taken from the Benbrook Banner, 1966c. "Historical Highlights," September 29, 1966 in a series discussing history in North Texas and the perils of travel).
View Governor Lanham's Invitations to his 1903 Inaugural Ball . 
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affording postal service for his constituents. In addition to theses
local measures, however, he carefully studied and participated in the
discussion of great public questions. He secured the passage of the law
for the retirement and recoinage of the trade dollar. His House
committee service included Judiciary, Territories, Military Affairs,
Claims, and Irrigation of Arid Lands; he served as chairman of the last
two.
an
honorary doctorate from Baylor University in June 1905. Governor Thomas
M. Campbell appointed him a regent of the University of Texas in 1907.
Illness, including diabetes, prevented him from participating in board
meetings after January 1908.
