Joseph Sayers

Joseph Draper Sayers

Full Name: Joseph Draper Sayers
Date of birth: September 23, 1841
Date of death: May 15, 1929

Terms of Service top

Chamber District Dates of Service Legislatures Party City/County Note Counties in District
S 26 Jan 14, 1873 - Jan 13, 1874 13th (1) (2) (3)   Democrat Bastrop / Bastrop   Bastrop, Fayette

(1) Entire Senate went up for reelection due to Senatorial redistricting. Act passed Apr. 24, 1873 [presented to Governor May 1, 1873 and became law without his signature], 13th Legislature, R.S., ch. 35, Apportionment Laws of Texas, 1836-1950, 1950.
(2) 13th Legislature - Senators elect qualified and took their seats, 1/14/1873, p. 1. Senate Journal.
(3) 13th Legislature - Included in list of 15 Senate members that were conservative Democrats, p. 145. The Texas Senate: Volume II, Civil War to the Eve of Reform, 1861-1889, 1999.

Terms of Service top

Senate District 26
Jan 14, 1873 - Jan 13, 1874
Legislatures: 13th (1) (2) (3)  
Party: Democrat
Home City/County: Bastrop / Bastrop
Counties in district: Bastrop, Fayette

(1) Entire Senate went up for reelection due to Senatorial redistricting. Act passed Apr. 24, 1873 [presented to Governor May 1, 1873 and became law without his signature], 13th Legislature, R.S., ch. 35, Apportionment Laws of Texas, 1836-1950, 1950.
(2) 13th Legislature - Senators elect qualified and took their seats, 1/14/1873, p. 1. Senate Journal.
(3) 13th Legislature - Included in list of 15 Senate members that were conservative Democrats, p. 145. The Texas Senate: Volume II, Civil War to the Eve of Reform, 1861-1889, 1999.

Biographical Information top

Selected newspaper articles

Resolutions and Journal entries

  • 41st Legislature, 1st C.S., 5/16/1929, pp. 527-528. Resolutions - Memorial.
  • 41st Legislature, 1st C.S., SCR 10, 5/16/1929, pp. 355-356. Resolution also printed in House Journal, 41st 1st C.S., 5/16/1929, p. 527. Resolutions - Memorial.
  • 60th Legislature, R.S., HCR 58 (engrossed). Last action in Senate: referred to Committee on State Affairs, 3/14/1967 (Senate Journal, p. 440). Resolutions - Memorial.

Biographical Sketches

Military Service Notes

  • Confederate States Army, Major. Sayers was "the last Confederate soldier to serve as governor." Presiding Officers of the Texas Legislature, 1846-2016, 2016.
  • "Governor Sayers and his wife are now buried together in Bastrop, Texas, the place from which he left school in 1861 to enlist in the Fifth Regiment of Texas Mounted Volunteers of the Confederate Army. Major Sayers fought in several fierce engagements from Val Verde, New Mexico to Mansfield, Louisiana, and acquitted himself with valour and heroism. He suffered several severe wounds and finished the war on crutches." 60th Legislature, R.S., HCR 58 (engrossed). Resolutions - Memorial.
  • "Governor Sayers lived a long and useful life, filled with heroic deeds and magnificent achievements. He fought valiantly in the cause of the Confederacy throughout the Civil War, and was among the last, if not the last, survivor of Tom Green's Brigade. He was wounded at the Battle of Val Verde, again at the Battle of Mansfield, and on both occasions exhibited that rare courage and fortitude which only a soldier of the highest type can." 41st Legislature, 1st C.S., SCR 10, 5/16/1929, pp. 355-356. Resolutions - Memorial.
  • Biographical sketch, pp. 76-77. Birth date 9/23/1842. Texans Who Wore the Gray, 1907.
  • Confederate States Army, Captain, Valverde Battery; Major, Assistant Adjutant General, 5th Texas Cavalry. Texas Burial Sites of Civil War Notables: A Biographical and Pictorial Field Guide, 2002.
  • Biographical sketch and portrait, pp. 5-6, 44, 79, Plate No. 67. Texas in the War, 1861-1865, 1965.

Other Resources

Photographs

  • Photograph. Joseph Sayers, 13th Legislature, DeGolyer Library, SMU, Lawrence T. Jones III Texas Photographs
  • Photograph. Joseph Sayers, 13th Legislature, State Preservation Board
  • Photograph. Joseph Sayers, Presiding Officers of the Texas Legislature, 1846-2006

Composite Photographs on Display in the Capitol

Committee Information top

13th R.S. - 1873
Education  
Engrossed Bills (Chair) 
Federal Relations (Chair) 
Finance  
Judiciary No. 2  
Public Lands (Chair) 
Superintendent of Public Schools (Co-Chair) 

This website is a work in progress. Information on this website is provided as a public service by the Legislative Reference Library. The Legislative Reference Library makes no representation as to its completeness or accuracy and makes no warranty in regard to its use. Users assume all risk of reliance on the information included on this site.

Party information is not available for the 1st-11th Legislatures.

Have a question, comment or contribution? Email the Library or call 512-463-1252.

Many photos in Texas Legislators: Past and Present are used with permission of the Texas State Preservation Board. For permission to reproduce these photos, please contact the Texas State Preservation Board graphics coordinator at 512-475-3060.