title: Fourth Texas Legislature
text: # Fourth Texas Legislature
  
  The Fourth Texas Legislature met from November 3, 1851 to February 7, 1853 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 1850.
  
  ## Sessions
  
  * 4th Regular session: November 3, 1851 – February 16, 1852
  * 4th First called session: January 10–February 7, 1853
  
  ## Officers
  
  ### Senate
  
  **Lieutenant Governor**
  
  
      James Wilson Henderson, Democrat
  
  **President pro tempore**
  
  
      Edward Burleson, Democrat, Regular session
      Jesse Grimes, Democrat, Regular session, First called session
  * ^ Senator Burleson died during the regular session on December 26, 1851.
  
  ### House of Representatives
  
  **Speaker of the House**
  
  
      David Catchings Dickson, Democrat
  
  Add to Representatives: Issac B. McFarland, Democrat, elected in 1851 from La Grange, Fayette County
  
  Sources: several obituaries, family history, list of One Hundredth Anniversary of the District Courts of Travis County, Texas
  
  ## Members
  
  ### Senate
  
  Members of the Texas Senate for the Fourth Texas Legislature:
  
  | District | Senator | Party | Took office |
  | - | - | - | - |
  | 1 | Joseph H. Burks | Democrat | 1851 |
  | 2 | William M. "Buckskin" Williams | Democrat | 1851 (First time:1846–1849) |
  | 3 | Sam Bogart | Democrat | 1851 |
  | 4 | Hart Hardin | Democrat | 1849 |
  | 5 | M. D. K. Taylor | Democrat | 1851 |
  | 6 | George Washington Hill | Democrat | 1851 |
  | 7 | Isaac Parker | Democrat | 1847 |
  | 8 | Stephen Reaves | Democrat | 1851 |
  | 9 | William Thomas Scott | Democrat | 1851 (First time:1846–1847) |
  | 10 | Z. Williams Eddy | Democrat | 1851 |
  | 11 | Adolphus Sterne | Democrat | 1851 |
  | 12 | James A. Truitt | Democrat | 1851 |
  | 13 | James Davis | Democrat | 1851 |
  | 14 | James H. Armstrong | Democrat | 1851 |
  | 15 | Jesse Grimes | Democrat | 1846 |
  | 16 | William S. Day | Democrat | 1851 |
  | 17 | Peter W. Gray | Democrat | 1851 |
  | 18 | Franklin H. Merriman | Democrat | 1851 |
  | 19 | James Charles Wilson | Democrat | 1851 |
  | 20 | John Winfield Scott Dancy | Democrat | 1851 (First time:1847–1849) |
  | 21 | Edward Burleson | Democrat | 1846 |
  | 22 | Baron Otfried Hans Freiherr von Meusebach | Democrat | 1851 |
  | 23 | Thomas Hinds Duggan | Democrat | 1851 |
  | 24 | Israel B. Bigelow | Democrat | 1851 |
  | 25 | Henry Lawrence Kinney | Democrat | 1846 |
  | 26 | Rufus Doane | Democrat | 1851 |
  
  ### House of Representatives
  
  Members of the House of Representatives for the Fourth Texas Legislature:
  
  | District | Representative | First day of term | Last day of term | Counties Represented |
  | - | - | - | - | - |
  | 1 | Napoleon Bonaparte Charlton | November 3, 1851 | November 7, 1853 | Jefferson, Tyler |
  | 2 | William Fields | November 3, 1851 | November 7, 1853 | Liberty, Polk |
  
  * Hamilton P. Bee
  * Guy Morrison Bryan
  * David Catchings Dickson
  * Randolph C. Doom
  * Memucan Hunt, Jr.
  * William G. W. Jowers
  * William H. Johnson
  * Evans Mabry
  * Robert Simpson Neighbors
  * John Patrick
  * Robert Peebles
  * Emory Rains
  * James Rowe
  * Hardin Richard Runnels
  * Charles Bellinger Tate Stewart
  * Benjamin E. Tarver
  * Robert H. Taylor
  * Andrew Jackson Titus
  * Amasa Turner
  
  ## Membership Changes
  
  ### Senate
  
  | District | Outgoing Senator | Reason for Vacancy | Successor | Date of Successor's Installation |
  | - | - | - | - | - |
  | District 11 | Adolphus Sterne | Senator Sterne died March 27, 1852. | Steward Alexander Miller | January 20, 1852 |
  | District 18 | Franklin H. Merriman | Senator Merriman resigned August 31, 1852. | Mark M. Potter | January 20, 1852 |
  | District 21 | Edward Burleson | Senator Burleson died December 26, 1851. | John Salmon "Rip" Ford | January 20, 1852 |
  