Background
Sexton was born on April 29, 1828, in New Harmony, Indiana, in rural Posey County. He was the only child of Doctor Samuel and Emily Hughes Davis Sexton. His father died when Franklin was 13 years old.
1201 Wesleyan St, Fort Worth, TX 76105, United States
Sexton briefly served as an apprentice to a local printer, and then enrolled in the Wesleyan College (now Texas Wesleyan University) and studied law.
1201 Wesleyan St, Fort Worth, TX 76105, United States
Sexton briefly served as an apprentice to a local printer, and then enrolled in the Wesleyan College (now Texas Wesleyan University) and studied law.
Sexton was born on April 29, 1828, in New Harmony, Indiana, in rural Posey County. He was the only child of Doctor Samuel and Emily Hughes Davis Sexton. His father died when Franklin was 13 years old.
Sexton briefly served as an apprentice to a local printer, and then enrolled in the Wesleyan College (now Texas Wesleyan University) and studied law.
Franklin Barlow Sexton was admitted to the Texas bar in 1848 by special legislative action. He developed an excellent law practice in San Augustine, Texas.
With the outbreak of the Civil War and Texas's secession, he served in the Confederate Army. In 1862, he was elected from the Fourth Congressional District of Texas to the first Confederate House of Representatives.
Sexton was reelected to a second term in 1863, serving until the fall of the Confederacy in the spring of 1865 and the dissolution of the Congress. He was one of only two Texans to be elected to both terms. Returning to San Augustine after the war, Sexton resumed his legal practice and involvement with the Masons.
In 1870, he served as Grand Commander of the Knights Templar of Texas.
He moved his family to Marshall, Texas, in 1872 and established a profitable practice there representing the railroad. When the state authorized construction of a new Capitol building in Austin, Sexton was selected to deliver an address at the ceremony for the laying of the cornerstone.
He was a delegate to the 1876 Democratic National Convention in Saint Louis, where he made an impassioned speech supporting Samuel J. Tilden. He was appointed a judge on the state Supreme Court and later served as a United States commissioner.
Sexton was a Mason and a member of the Methodist church.
Sexton was considered a supporter of the Jefferson Davis administration but, in common with most westerners in the Confederacy, thought that Richmond regarded his region as merely "a field from which to draw beef and common soldiers."
Franklin Sexton opposed the tax in kind on agricultural products and the removal of slaves from agricultural pursuits for any purpose. Although he favored conscription, he protested the relocation of Texas defense forces beyond the Mississippi.
Franklin was reputed to have been one of the hardest working and most efficient men in Congress.
On August 10, 1852, Franklin Sexton married Eliza Richardson, the daughter of Daniel L. Richardson. The couple had twelve children.
1833-1894
1854-1880
1856-1881
1860-1875
1862-1875
1866-1875
1873-1947
