title: Eighteenth Texas Legislature
text: # Eighteenth Texas Legislature
  
  The Eighteenth Texas Legislature met from January 9, 1883 to February 6, 1884 in its regular session and one called session. All members of the House of Representatives and about half of the members of the Senate were elected in the 1882 general election.
  
  ## Sessions
  
  * 18th Regular session: January 9–April 13, 1883
  * 18th First called session: January 8–February 6, 1884
  
  ## Officers
  
  ### Senate
  
  **Lieutenant Governor**
  
  
      Francis Marion Martin, Democrat
  
  **President pro tempore**
  
  
      Augustus W. Houston, Democrat, Regular session
      Samuel Bronson Cooper, Democrat, ad interim, First called session
  
  ### House of Representatives
  
  **Speaker of the House**
  
  
      Charles Reese Gibson, Democrat
  
  ## Members
  
  Members of the Eighteenth Texas Legislature as of the beginning of the Regular Session, January 9, 1883:
  
  ### Senate
  
  | District | Senator | Party | Took office |
  | - | - | - | - |
  | 1 | Samuel Bronson Cooper | Democrat | 1881 |
  | 2 | Frank L. Johnson | | 1883 |
  | 3 | William Henry Pope | Democrat | 1883 |
  | 4 | John A. Peacock | | 1883 |
  | 5 | E. A. King | | 1883 |
  | 6 | John C. Buchanan | | 1879 |
  | 7 | John Young Gooch | | 1879 |
  | 8 | Mansel Y. Randolph | | 1883 |
  | 9 | James W. Jones | | 1883 |
  | 10 | Asa E. Stratton, Jr. | | 1883 |
  | 11 | Samuel C. Patton | | 1879 |
  | 12 | Alvah Chesley | | 1883 |
  | 13 | John P. Fowler | | 1883 |
  | 14 | James S. Perry | | 1883 |
  | 15 | Lochlin Johnson Farrar | | 1883 |
  | 16 | Barnett Gibbs | Democrat | 1883 |
  | 17 | John Johnson | | 1883 |
  | 18 | William O. Davis | | 1882 |
  | 19 | Avery L. Matlock | | 1883 |
  | 20 | William R. Shannon | Democrat | 1879 (Prior: 1865–1867) |
  | 21 | William H. Getzendaner | | 1883 |
  | 22 | John A. Martin | | 1883 |
  | 23 | Andrew Jackson Harris | | 1881 |
  | 24 | Alexander Watkins Terrell | Democrat | 1876 |
  | 25 | George Pfeuffer | | 1883 |
  | 26 | Rudolph Kleberg | | 1883 |
  | 27 | Norman G. Collins | | 1883 |
  | 28 | Augustus W. Houston | Democrat | 1879 |
  | 29 | James Richard Fleming | Democrat | 1883 |
  | 30 | John Henry Traylor | | 1883 |
  | 31 | William A. Evans | | 1883 |
  
  ### House of Representatives
  
  * Benjamin M. Baker
  * William John Caven
  * R. J. Evans
  * George Finlay
  * George Washington Lafayette Fly
  * Lafayette Lumpkin Foster
  * Charles Reese Gibson
  * Andrew Jackson Harris
  * William Kercheval Homan
  * Joseph Chappell Hutcheson
  * Robert A. Kerr
  * Absolom C. Oliver
  * George C. Pendleton—District 24
  * Thomas A. Rodríguez
  * George Robertson Reeves
  * Benjamin Dudley Tarlton
  * George T. Todd
  * Arthur Tompkins
  * John Henry Traylor
  * James W. Truitt
  * William Wallace Weatherred
  * Charles Louis Wurzbach
  * G. W. Wyatt
  * Alexander John Leo
  
  ## Membership changes
  
  | District | Outgoing Senator | Reason for Vacancy | Successor | Date of Successor's Installation |
  | - | - | - | - | - |
  | District 10 | Asa E. Stratton, Jr. | Stratton resigned May 14, 1884. | Vacant | |
  | District 19 | Avery L. Matlock | Matlock resigned September 24, 1884. | Vacant | |
  