Constantine W. Buckley

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Constantine W. Buckley (1815–1865) was an American politician in Texas who served two non-consecutive terms as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives between 1861 and 1863.

Buckley was born 22 January 1815 in Surry County, North Carolina, but had moved to Georgia by 1828 where he began working as a store clerk. In 1834 in Columbus, Buckley opened a store of his own, which closed after the Panic of 1837. After losing everything, he moved to Houston in the Republic of Texas, where he was a clerk in the State Department. While Buckley worked there, he was tutored in law by Attorney General John Birdsall, which allowed Buckley to be admitted to the bar in November 1839.

Gov. James Pinckney Henderson appointed him a District Judge in 1847, but Buckley resigned in 1854 in order to resume private practice. Buckley was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives from Richmond in 1857. He represented Austin and Fort Bend counties in the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Legislatures. On 4 November 1861, at the beginning of the Regular Session of the Ninth Legislature, Buckley was elected Speaker and served until he apparently resigned on 7 December 1861.^[1] After Buckley’s successor, Nicholas Henry Darnell resigned sometime in 1862,^[2] Buckley was elected to the vacant office of Speaker for the First Called Session that convened on 2 February 1863, defeating Reps. Robert Turner Flewellen and John Smith, 54 votes to 5 and 1, respectively.^[3]

Buckley was married twice, the first time in 1840. He had three children with his first wife, but she had apparently died by 1852 when Buckley married Mrs. Ann R. Nibbs. Buckley drowned in the Brazos River near Columbia, Texas on 19 December 1865.

[edit] Notes

^ Texas. Legislature. House of Representatives (1964). in James M. Day: House journal of the Ninth Legislature, Regular session of the State of Texas, November 4, 1861-January 14, 1862 (pdf), Austin, Texas: Texas State Library. OCLC 06776052. Retrieved on 2007-01-22.
^ Darnell resigned to fight in the Civil War. Texas Legislature records during the Civil War were spotty at best, and were not even published until the mid 1960s.
^ Texas. Legislature. House of Representatives (1963). in James M. Day: House journal of the Ninth Legislature, first called session of the State of Texas, February 2, 1863-March 7, 1863 (pdf), Austin, Texas: Texas State Library. OCLC 03831721. Retrieved on 2007-01-22.

[edit] References

Constantine W. Buckley from the Handbook of Texas Online

Preceded by Unknown	Member of the Texas House of Representatives 1855–22 July 1858	Succeeded by Unknown
Preceded by M. D. K. Taylor	Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives 4 November 1861–7 December 1861	Succeeded by Nicholas Henry Darnell
Preceded by Vacant¹	Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives 2 February 1863²–2 November 1863	Succeeded by M. D. K. Taylor
Notes and references
1. Nicholas Henry Darnell resigned some time in 1862, and the office of Speaker was apparently vacant until the beginning of the First Called Session of the Ninth Texas Legislature (records are incomplete) 2. Buckley was most likely elected at the beginning of the First Called Session on 2 February 1863

v • d • e Speakers of the Texas House of Representatives

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