David Catchings Dickson

David C. Dickson
4th Lieutenant Governor of Texas
In office December 21, 1853 – December 21, 1855
Governor	Elisha M. Pease
Preceded by	James W. Henderson
Succeeded by	Hardin Richard Runnels
9th Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives
In office November 3, 1851 – November 7, 1853
Governor	Peter Hansborough Bell
Preceded by	Charles G. Keenan
Succeeded by	Hardin Richard Runnels
Member of the Texas House of Representatives
In office 1846-1847 1849-1853 1859-1861
Personal details
Born	David Catchings Dickson February 25, 1818 Pike County, Mississippi
Died	June 5, 1880 (age 62) Grimes County, Texas
Political party	Democratic Know Nothing

David Catchings Dickson (25 February 1818 – 5 June 1880) was an American politician and physician in early Texas who served as the ninth Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives and as the fourth Lieutenant Governor of Texas. He was also a State Senator and unsuccessfully ran for governor of Texas.

Dickson was born 25 February 1818 in Pike County, Mississippi. In 1830, Dickson’s family moved to Georgetown in Copiah County, where he later married Sophronia L. Magee. Dickson attended medical school in Lexington, Kentucky, and after graduating in 1841, moved, as part of a large group, to the Montgomery County, Texas, community of Anderson (present-day Grimes County). Dickson served as a surgeon for the Army of the Republic of Texas. He served as a Justice of the Peace for Montgomery County beginning in 1845.

Sometime before 1850, Dickson had remarried, to the former Nancy Ann E. Magee.^[1]

Dickson served in the House of Representatives in the First, Third, and Fourth Texas Legislatures. In the Fourth Legislature, Dickson was elected Speaker of the House, defeating fellow representative Hardin Richard Runnels 30 votes to 27 on the tenth ballot.^[2] In his acceptance speech, Dickson promised to work on eliminating debts incurred by the Republic of Texas and passed on to the state.^[2]

In 1853, he was elected lieutenant governor on the Democratic ticket with governor Elisha M. Pease. In 1855, with the backing of the American Party (better known as the “Know Nothings”), he ran for governor against Pease but was defeated by a large margin.

Dickson later returned to the state House, in 1859, for the Eighth Texas Legislature. On 16 November 1859, he moved that an interpreter be provided for Representative Basilio Benavides of Webb County, an action which prompted outcry from the Dallas Herald. By the end of the Legislature, Dickson had decided not to run again for a House seat.

Dickson served as an officer of the local militia company during the Civil War, but when State Senator Anthony Martin Branch stepped down to serve in the Confederate States Army in 1862, Dickson was elected to complete Branch’s term.^[3]

After the war, he was appointed financial agent of the State Penitentiary in Huntsville by Governor James Webb Throckmorton and served in that capacity from 1866 to 1867. During his time in Huntsville, Dickson attended to the inmates when a yellow fever outbreak occurred.

Dickson died on 5 June 1880, in the Crimes County Courthouse,^[4] and is buried near his home in Anderson. Dickson was a Mason.

Notes

References

Governors and Lieutenant Governors of Texas
Governors	J. P. Henderson Wood Bell James W. Henderson Pease Runnels Houston Clark Lubbock Murrah Hamilton Throckmorton Pease Davis Coke Hubbard Roberts Ireland Ross Hogg Culberson Sayers Lanham Campbell Colquitt J. Ferguson Hobby Neff M. Ferguson Moody Sterling M. Ferguson Allred O'Daniel Stevenson Jester Shivers Daniel Connally Smith Briscoe Clements White Clements Richards Bush Perry Abbott
Lieutenant Governors	Horton Greer Henderson Dickson Runnels Lubbock Clark Crockett Stockdale Jones J. W. Flanagan Campbell D. W. Flanagan Fountain Pickett Hubbard Sayers Storey Martin Gibbs Wheeler Pendleton Crane Jester Browning Neal A. B. Davidson Mayes Hobby Sr. Johnson L. Davidson T. W. Davidson Miller Witt Woodul Stevenson J. L. Smith Shivers Ramsey P. Smith Barnes Hobby Jr. Bullock Perry Ratliff Dewhurst Patrick

Speakers of the Texas House of Representatives
Crump Brown Branch Crump Bourland Perkins Henderson Keenan Dickson Runnels Bee W. Taylor Locke M. Taylor Buckley Darnell Buckley M. Taylor Burford Evans Sinclair M. Taylor Bryan Bonner Cochran Reeves Gibson Foster Pendleton Alexander Milner Cochran Smith Dashiell Sherrill Prince Neff Seabury Love Kennedy Marshall Rayburn Terrell Woods Fuller Thomason Thomas Seagler Satterwhite Bobbitt Barron Minor Stevenson Calvert Morse Leonard Daniel Gilmer Reed Manford Senterfitt Lindsey Carr Turman Tunnell Barnes Mutscher Slider Price Daniel Jr. Clayton Lewis Laney Craddick Straus