James Collinsworth
{{Short description|American judge}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = James Collinsworth
| image =
| imagesize =
| alt =
| caption =
| office = 1st Chief Justice of Texas
| term_start = December 16, 1836
| term_end = July 11, 1838
| predecessor = Inaugural holder
| successor = John Birdsall
| office1 = Republic of Texas Senator from Brazoria District
| term_start1 = November 30, 1836
| term_end1 = December 16, 1836
| predecessor1 = Inaugural holder
| successor1 = William Green Hill
| office2 = Interim Secretary of State of Texas
| term_start2 = April 29, 1836
| term_end2 = May 23, 1836
| predecessor2 = Samuel Price Carson
| successor2 = William Houston Jack
| office3 = Delegate to the Convention of 1836 from Brazoria District
| term_start3 = February 1, 1836
| term_end3 = March 17, 1836
| office4 = United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee
| term_start4 = 1829
| term_end4 = 1835
| predecessor4 = Thomas H. Fletcher
| successor4 = William T. Brown
|birth_date = 1802
|birth_place = Davidson County, Tennessee, U.S.
|death_date = July 11, 1838
|death_place = Galveston, Texas
|resting_place = Founders Memorial Cemetery
|party =
|religion =
|signature =
}}
James Thompson Collinsworth (1802 – July 11, 1838) was an American-born Texan lawyer and political figure in early history of the Republic of Texas.
Early life
Collinsworth was born in 1802 Davidson County, Tennessee. His father, Edward Collinsworth, served in the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.{{cite news|last1=Zollicoffer Bond|first1=Octavia|title=The Cockrill Family|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/119255588/?terms=%22john%2Bcockrill%22|accessdate=April 15, 2018|work=The Tennessean|date=November 28, 1909|page=34|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }} His sister, Susan, married Mark R. Cockrill, a large planter known as the "Wool King of the World".{{cite news|last1=Cockrill Henning|first1=Johnnie|title=Mark R. Cockrill Introduced Sheep Raising Into Tennessee|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/282454502/?terms=%22john%2Bcockrill%22|accessdate=April 16, 2018|work=The Jackson Sun|location=Jackson, Tennessee|page=6|date=October 10, 1950|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }}
Career
Collinsworth served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee.
Collinsworth served as a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, the first chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas,{{cite book |title=The Texas Senate: Republic to Civil War, 1836-1861 |editor=McDonald Spaw, Patsy |year=1990 |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |page=18}} and an interim Secretary of State of Texas.{{cite web |url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fco97 |title=Collinsworth, James |author=Ericson, Joe E. |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |work=The Handbook of Texas |date=June 12, 2010 |accessdate=November 4, 2014}}
Collinsworth was candidate during the 1838 Republic of Texas presidential election against Mirabeau B. Lamar.
Death and legacy
Collinsworth drowned after falling from a steamboat into Galveston Bay.{{cite book |author=Siegel, Stanley |title=A Political History of the Texas Republic, 1836-1845 |publisher=The University of Texas Press |year=1956 |page=98}} His body was found on Bolivar Peninsula and taken by boat upstream along Buffalo Bayou to Houston, where he lay in state at the Texas Capitol. He was interred at Founders Memorial Cemetery in Houston.
Collingsworth County, Texas and Collingsworth Street in Houston, were both posthumously named in his honor, even though both were misspelled.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Portal|Texas}}
- {{Find a Grave|7608092}}
- [http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/TX/HR.html#RS40LJ8XK Founders Memorial Park] at The Political Graveyard
{{Republic of Texas}}
{{Texas Attorney General}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collinsworth, James}}
Category:Republic of Texas senators
Category:1st Congress of the Republic of Texas
Category:Chief justices of the Republic of Texas Supreme Court
Category:Deaths by drowning in Texas
Category:Secretaries of state of Texas
Category:Texas attorneys general
Category:United States attorneys for the Western District of Tennessee
Category:People of the Texas Revolution
Category:People from Brazoria County, Texas
Category:People from Davidson County, Tennessee
Category:Signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence
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