Background

David Browning Culberson was born on September 29, 1830 in Troup County, Georgia, United States. He was descended from John Culbertson who came from the North of Ireland to Chester, Pennsylvania about 1712. Joseph, the grandson of this John, moved to North Carolina before the Revolution and somewhere dropped the "t" from his name. David Browning Culberson was the son of Rev. David B. Culberson, a well-known Baptist preacher, and Lucy Wilkinson Culberson, daughter of a large planter of Oglethorpe County.

Education

His education was obtained chiefly at Brownwood Institute, Lagrange, Georgia.

Career

He read law, after the custom of that day, in the office of the noted lawyer and Whig leader, William P. Chilton of Tuskegee, Alabama, who was at that time chief justice of the supreme court of that state.

He was admitted to the bar in 1851 and settled at Dadeville, Alabama.

In 1856 he moved to Upshur County, Texas, where he continued the practise of law. In 1859 he was elected to the lower house of the legislature.

When the war came he enlisted as a private; but in 1862 he aided in raising the 18th Texas Infantry and became its lieutenant-colonel and later its colonel. This regiment served in Arkansas and Louisiana in J. G. Walker's division, and Culberson distinguished himself for courage and resourcefulness. In 1863 his health broke down and he resigned; but in November he was appointed by Gov. Murrah to the post of adjutant and inspector-general of Texas at Austin. In 1864 he was elected to the legislature from Marion County, and resigned his commission. After the war he again took up the practise of law and rose rapidly to a leading position at a bar which was distinguished for able advocates.

In 1873 he was elected to the state Senate. In 1875 he was elected to Congress, and was reelected for ten consecutive terms until in 1896 he refused another election.

His most important service in Congress was as a member of the House Committee of the Judiciary, of which he was several times chairman. Though his chief interest was in legal and constitutional questions, especially judicial reforms, he was attentive to all matters pertaining to the public interest. He worked consistently for the principle of tariff for revenue only and for the federal regulation of railways.

In 1890 he was offered a place on the Interstate Commerce Commission, but declined it. He was regarded by many of his colleagues as the ablest constitutional lawyer in the House and was ranked in this respect with Senator Edmunds.

He had the personal confidence of members of both parties and in his later years his advice was much sought because of his sound judgment and breadth of view. His hold upon the people of his own district was remarkable, as his twenty-two years of continuous service attest; but it was due not only to their pride in his ability but to his simple unaffected honesty, his plain and unassuming manners, and his warm heart.

When he retired from the House it was generally expected that the legislature would elect him to the Senate, but he stood aside for his son, Charles A. Culberson, who was at that time governor of Texas. He was appointed in 1897, by President McKinley, on the commission to codify the laws of the United States, and he was serving in that capacity at the time of his death.

He died, widely mourned, at Jefferson, Texas, and was buried there.

Achievements

• He became famous as a trial lawyer, for he was not only a profound student of the law but had such a persuasive influence with the juries that he seldom lost a case. He introduced in the House, on the part of the judiciary committee, the antitrust bill of 1890 and supported it with a careful and weighty speech.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Tariff: Speech Of Hon. David B. Culberson, Of Texas, In The House Of Representatives, April 30, 1884...

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Politics

He had been a Whig until that party disappeared and he seems to have supported the Constitutional Unionist candidates in 1860. He opposed secession and the recognition of the Texas Secession Convention by the legislature, and finding that his constituents disagreed with him, he resigned from the legislature.

He was not particularly active in the free-silver movement, but he voted with his party and section for the bills of 1878 and 1890 and against the limiting amendments engrafted on them, and he opposed the repeal of the silver purchase clause of 1893.

He spoke but seldom, and almost never on trivial matters, and was always listened to with great respect on both sides of the House. His speeches were characterized by temperateness, a terse and closely woven argument, and remarkable clarity.

Though a Democrat, he had never broken entirely with his early Whig training, as is shown by his conservatism and his broad views of the constitutional powers of the Federal Government.

Connections

He married Eugenia Kimbal on December 2, 1852. They had a son, Charles A. Culberson.

Father:

David B. Culberson

preacher

Mother:

Lucy Wilkinson Culberson

Spouse:

Eugenia Kimbal

Son:

Charles A. Culberson