David Abner
{{Short description|American politician}}
{{about||his son, the American educator|David Abner Jr.}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2019}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = David Abner Sr.
| image = David Abner (1826-1902).jpg
| office = Texas State Representative for District 5 (Harrison and Rusk counties)
| term_start = January 13, 1874
| term_end = March 15, 1875
| birth_date = c. 1826
| birth_place = Selma, Alabama, U.S.
| death_date = {{death year and age|1902|1826}}
| death_place = Marshall, Texas, U.S.
| spouse =
| children = David Abner Jr.
| party = Republican
| alma_mater =
| profession = Politician, farmer, educator
| religion =
| footnotes =
}}
David Abner Sr. (c. 1826–1902) was an American politician who served in the Texas House of Representatives.
Born into slavery in Selma, Alabama, he served in the Fourteenth Texas Legislature for District 5 and sat on the Education Committee. He was a delegate to the 1875 Texas Constitutional Convention.[https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/exhibits/forever/biographies/page1.html Forever Free: the biographies (page 1)] at the Texas State Library and Archives Commission; published August 26, 2011. Retrieved October 30, 2013
Early life
At the age of seventeen, Abner in 1843 was taken to Upshur County in East Texas. After being emancipated after the American Civil War, he moved to Marshall in Harrison County, also in East Texas. There, he rented a plot of land and a mule from the sister of his original master. A few years later, he purchased the farm and became wealthy.{{cite web|url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fab06|title=David Abner Sr.|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|author1-link=Merline Pitre|author=Merline Pitre|accessdate= October 30, 2013}}
Political life
In 1873, Abner was appointed to the executive committee of the first Colored Men's State Convention.{{cite web|last=Barr|first=Alwyn|authorlink=Alwyn Barr|title=Black State Conventions|url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/pkb01|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|accessdate=October 31, 2013}} Later, he was elected to the position of treasurer for Harrison County.{{cite book|last=Harvey|first=Bill|title=Texas Cemeteries: The Resting Places of Famous, Infamous, and Just Plain Interesting Texans|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fMCAuw4JifYC&pg=PA181|date=February 1, 2003|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-73466-1|page=181}} In 1874, Abner was elected to the legislature for Harrison and Rusk counties.{{cite web|title=David Abner Sr.|url=http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/legeLeaders/members/memberDisplay.cfm?memberID=5310|publisher=Legislative Reference Library of Texas|accessdate=October 31, 2013}}
Halfway through his term in the state House, in August 1875, a convention was called to rewrite the 1869 Texas State Constitution. Abner was one of three delegates elected to the convention from the Texas State Senate district that comprised Harison and Rusk counties.{{cite book|last=Campbell|first=Randolph B. |title=Grass-roots Reconstruction in Texas, 1865–1880|url=https://archive.org/details/grassrootsrecons0000camp|url-access=registration|year=1997|publisher=Louisiana State University Press|isbn=978-0-8071-2194-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/grassrootsrecons0000camp/page/128 128]–29}} He was the only Republican at the convention who voted for a clause in the state constitution that prohibited the state from spending money for the encouragement of immigration.{{ref|citation|a}}{{cite book|last=Rozek|first=Barbara J.|title=Come to Texas: Attracting Immigrants, 1865–1915|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B1RKXqhKVaUC&pg=PA205|date=July 22, 2003|publisher=Texas A&M University Press|isbn=978-1-58544-267-6|page=53}}
After his state legislative term, Abner was the vice president of the Republican State Convention in 1876.
After politics
In 1881, Abner helped establish Bishop College, and served as one of its first trustees. In 1884, his son David Abner Jr., became the first black man to graduate from a Texas college, and later became president of Guadalupe College and then of Conroe College.[http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fab09 ABNER, DAVID, JR.] at the Texas State Historical Association; by Diana J. Kleiner. Retrieved October 30, 2013
Abner died in 1902 in Marshall, Texas, and is interred there at a family cemetery.
Notes
- {{note|citation|a}} Article 16, section 56 of the Texas State Constitution states: "The Legislature shall have no power to appropriate any of the public money for the establishment and maintenance of a bureau of immigration, or for any purpose of bringing immigrants to this State." It was part of the Constitution from 1875 until repealed in 2001.
External links
- {{Find a Grave|7737787}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|United States|Texas|Politics|Education}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abner, David}}
Category:Year of birth uncertain
Category:Republican Party members of the Texas House of Representatives
Category:African-American politicians during the Reconstruction Era
Category:African-American state legislators in Texas
Category:Politicians from Selma, Alabama
Category:People from Upshur County, Texas
Category:People from Marshall, Texas
Category:19th-century American slaves
Category:20th-century African-American people