De Witt C. Giddings

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De Witt Clinton Giddings (1832-1892) served three non-consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives as a representative from Texas. Giddings first served in the Forty-second Congress after a controversial election in which he defeated William T. Clark by 135 votes. Suspected voting irregularities gave the House seat to Clark initially, but Giddings successfully contested the election and took his seat in Congress. Giddings was reelected to the Forty-third Congress (May 13, 1872 - March 3, 1875) and to the Forty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1877 - March 3, 1879).

Giddings-Clark election contest

The Giddings-Clark election contest, 1871-72, was a Reconstruction incident involving the right to a seat in Congress from the Texas Third District. De Witt Clinton Giddings was the Democratic candidate and won the election by a majority of 135 votes over his Radical Republican opponent, William T. Clark. The state returning board delayed certifying the election because Republican governor E. J. Davis concluded that fraud had taken place and called for an investigation. Republican officials charged that local Democrats had used intimidation to keep African-Americans from voting. Prompted by Davis, the board decided to invalidate the vote from Limestone and Freestone counties because of reported violence against Republicans. It also rejected the Bosque County votes on the grounds that the board received no official tally from the county, and similarly rejected the boxes from Brazos and Washington counties on the grounds that they had been "illegally marked" and that African-Americans had been prevented from voting. The altered results gave the seat to Clark, to whom the board presented the certificate of election.

Giddings contested the election. The House seated Clark on January 10, 1872, but without prejudicing Giddings's right to contest. On January 31 a grand jury indicted Davis and several others for "willfully, unlawfully and feloniously making a false and untrue tabular statement" of the election's outcome. The federal circuit court found Davis and the other defendants not guilty, but Congress agreed to take up the matter of the disputed election. The sixty days beginning February 1 were designated as the time for taking testimony. Giddings worked diligently and uncovered a mass of evidence showing fraud on the part of the Radicals, but Clark, relying on the Republican majority in the House to support him, responded with little more than statements from party officials. At the end of the sixty-day period the committee on elections rejected Clark's plea for an extension of time, examined the evidence presented by Giddings, and concluded that Giddings was entitled to the seat. The House concurred in this report, and on May 13, 1872, Giddings took his seat.

Life Before Serving in Congress

De Witt Clinton Giddings was born July 18, 1827, in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of eight children of James and Lucy (Demming) Giddings. Giddings worked teaching school part-time to finance his education as a civil engineer and later was employed as a railroad engineer. He began his legal studies in Honesdale, Pennsylvania in 1850. When word reached home that Giddings older brother, Giles, died of wounds received at the battle of San Jacinto, another brother, Jabez Demming Giddings traveled to Texas to Claim Gile's land bounty. Giddings, joined his brother in Brenham, Texas in 1852 and in 1853 was admitted to the Texas bar. He was his brother's junior partner in a law practice in Brenham.

After the Civil War Giddings and his brother land agents and owners of holdings throughout Texas. They founded the Giddings and Giddings bank at Brenham in 1866. Dewitt Giddings earned a large commission during Governor Richard Coke's term when he successively recovered $339,000 in proceeds from state-owned bonds sold in Europe during the war. After his brother's death, Giddings managed bank operations and in 1884 became sole owner of the Giddings bank. By 1874 he was a large stockholder in Texas Mutual Life Insurance of Galveston. He chartered the short-lived Brazos Valley, Brenham and Gulf Railway Company in 1888 to promote lower railroad rates. His activities focused on banking after 1875.

Personal Life

In addition to his brother, Jabez Demming (J.D.), other of Giddings' brothers relocated from Pennsylvania to Texas. George Giddings and John James (J.J.) Giddings were successful operators of the San Antonio, Texas to Santa Fe, New Mexico Mail Line.

In 1860, Giddings married Malinda C. Lusk, the daughter of Samuel C. Lusk. They had five children. Mrs. Giddings died in 1869. Giddings died of heart disease in Brenham on August 19, 1903, and was buried in Prairie Lea cemetery.

Photo of De Witt Clinton Giddings: [[1]]

Handbook of Texas article on De Witt Clinton Giddings

Handbook of Texas article on the Giddings-Clark election contest