Western

JOHN C. MASON AUTOGRAPH- TEXAS RANGER . 2 1 /4" x 5" light lined paper “John C. Mason, Owingsville Ky” (verso has signature of C.F.Holland?, Hampton.) Fine condition. (W.478)$100.00
MASON, John Calvin, a Representative from Kentucky; born near Mount Sterling, Montgomery County, Ky., August 4, 1802; attended country and city schools in Montgomery County and Mount Sterling Law School in Lexington, Ky.; was graduated from Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky., in 1823; was admitted to the bar and practiced in Mount Sterling; engaged extensively in the manufacture of iron; member of the State house of representatives in 1839, 1844, and 1848; served in the war with Mexico in 1846 and 1847 in Ben McCollough's company of Texas Rangers, Worth's division, under General Taylor; wounded in the Battle of Monterey; sent to Washington, D. C., with dispatches to President Polk; on March 9, 1847, was appointed by President Polk "quartermaster with the rank of major in the service of the United States for gallantry on the field"; moved to Owingsville, Bath County, Ky., in 1847; elected as a Jackson Democrat to the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses (March 4, 1849-March 3, 1853); was not a candidate for renomination in 1852; elected to the Thirty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1857March 3, 1859); was not a candidate for renomination in 1858; delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Charleston, S. C., in 1860; presidential elector on the Democratic ticket of Douglas and Johnson in 1860; during the Civil War served with Texas State troops from Brenham, Tex. ("Graybeards" in service of the Confederate States of America), in 1863; died in August 1865 near New Orleans on board a steamer on the Mississippi River en route from Texas to Kentucky; interment in the State Cemetery, Frankfort, Ky.

FRANCIS LUBBOCK SIGNED 1862 TEXAS LAND GRANT. 12 1/2" x 14 3/4" 1862 State of Texas Land Grant, signed by Governor Francis Lubbock, to a John Burgess for 160 acres in Presidio County. Has two different embossed seals. Overall VG, original folds, some light damp staining (though not as pronounced as the photo illustrates, the scan of the signature is more indicative of the color of the document. (W. 499 ); $425.
LUBBOCK, FRANCIS RICHARD (1815-1905). Francis R. Lubbock, governor of Texas, was born on October 16, 1815, in Beaufort, South Carolina, He pursued a business career in South Carolina and then in New Orleans, and continued his business activities when he moved to Texas in 1836. In 1837 Lubbock moved to Houston, Texas, where he opened a general store; during the 1840s he began his ranching operations. Lubbock was a lifelong Democrat, and he began his association with the Democratic party during the nullification crisis in South Carolina in 1832. In Texas he continued his political involvement and was appointed comptroller of the Republic of Texas by President Sam Houston. He was also elected clerk of the Harris County district court and served from 1841 to 1857. In the 1850s Lubbock was active in state Democratic politics. In the party convention of 1856 he fought against the American (or Know-Nothing) party. He was elected lieutenant governor in 1857 but lost his race for reelection in 1859, when Sam Houston and Edward Clark were elected. In 1860 Lubbock served as a Texas delegate to the national Democratic convention at Charleston, where the southern delegation walked out in opposition to the Democratic platform and Stephen A. Douglas, the party's nominee. After the southerners' second walkout on the Democrats at Baltimore, the southern Democratic party nominated John C. Breckinridge at their convention in Richmond, Virginia, a convention chaired by Lubbock. In 1861 Lubbock won the governorship of Texas by only 124 votes. As governor he staunchly supported the Confederacy and worked to improve the military capabilities of Texas. He chaired the state military board, which attempted to trade cotton and United States Indemnity Bonds for military goods through Mexico. He also worked with the board to establish a state foundry and percussion-cap factory. Lubbock vigorously supported Confederate conscription, opposing draft exemptions for able-bodied men as unfair and the substitution system as advantageous to the wealthy. Viewing the use of whites in government contracting and cattle driving as wasteful, he encouraged their replacement with slaves to increase enlistment. Aliens residing in Texas were also made subject to the draft. Lubbock exempted frontier counties from the Confederate draft and enlisted their residents for local defense against Indian attack. When his term of office ended, Lubbock chose to enter the military service. He was appointed lieutenant colonel and served as assistant adjutant general on the staff of Maj. Gen. John Bankhead Magruder. He organized troop-transport and supply trains for the Red River campaign against Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks. Lubbock was later transferred to the staff of Brig. Gen. Thomas Green. After Green's death, Lubbock's commander was Maj. Gen. John A. Wharton, whom Lubbock assisted in raising additional Texas troops for the Red River operations. In August 1864 Lubbock was appointed aide-de-camp to Jefferson Davis and traveled to Richmond. As an expert on the Trans-Mississippi Department, he provided Davis with firsthand information on the war west of the Mississippi River. At the end of the war Lubbock fled Richmond with Davis and was captured by federal authorities in Georgia. He was imprisoned in Fort Delaware and kept in solitary confinement for eight months before being paroled. After his release he returned to Texas. He soon tired of ranching and went into business in Houston and Galveston, where he served as tax collector. From 1878 to 1891 he was treasurer of the state of Texas. From 1891 until his death he continued to live in Austin, where he died on June 22, 1905.

BLANCO COUNTY COURTHOUSE. Cabinet Card, 4 1/4" x 6 1/2 . Period pen id on verso. No photographer's imprint. Some avg light soiling and wear, overall VG-F. (W.32); $165.
Built during 1885-1886 and designed by well-known Austin architect Frederick Ernst Ruffini. In 1890 the county seat was moved to Johnson City, and the new courthouse was only used four years by the county.
According to the survey report for the National Register of Historic Places, "Overall the courthouse is one of the finest examples of courthouse architecture from the late 19th century in Texas."
The courthouse has been used as a school, a bank, an office building housing lawyers, doctors, dentists, an opera house, and a hospital .
The old Blanco County Courthouse is now open as a visitor center, gift shop and community center. It is located on the town square in Blanco at the intersection of Hwy's. 281 and 165.