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he removed to
Galveston and there served three terms as city treasurer.
Subsequently he was for four terms, beginning in 1878, elected State treasurer.
Of late years, having reached an advanced age, he has withdrawn himself from public affairs.
Pendleton Murrah, governor of
Texas, 1863 to 1865, was a native of
South Carolina, and a lawyer by profession.
In early life he went to
Alabama, and thence removed to the
State of Texas, making his home in
Harrison county.
His evident ability and capacity for public affairs were manifested in 1857 as a representative of his county in the legislature, and he continued to rise in prominence until in 1863 he was honored with the highest office in the gift of the people of the
State, as the successor of Francis-
R. Lubbock.
In the midst of many perplexities, and confronted by many serious problems, he performed with honor the duties of chief executive until the
State was occupied by the armed forces of the
United States.
He then left the
capitol and crossed into
Mexico, making his home at
Monterey, where he died in July, 1866.
John Letcher, governor of
Virginia at the outbreak and through the major part of the civil war, was born at
Lexington, Va., March 29, 1813.
By his own labor, begun at the age of fifteen years, he won an education, attending Washington college and Randolph-Macon college.
He was licensed to practice law in 1839, and in the midst of his profession gave attention also to politics, and particularly to political journalism.
In the campaign of 1840 he took an active part.
Having established the
Lexington Valley Star in 1839, he resumed control of it in 1844, and zealously advocated the interests of the
South.
In 1848 he was a Democratic presidential elector; in 1850 was a member of the constitutional convention; and in 1851 was elected to Congress, where he remained four