WIUTINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1845
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with his family, 1837, and was soon appointed clerk of the House of Representatives. Later he was appointed district attorney and held that position at the time of his death. Peter W. Gray was reared and educated chiefly in Houston, Texas; studied law in his father's office and succeeded him as disti-ict attorney at his death in 1841. In 1846 he was a member of the first legislature of the state of Texas. He was district judge of the Houston district for many years. During the Civil War he represented his district in the Confederate Congress; after the war he resumed his law practice at Houston. In February, 1874 he was appointed an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Texas to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Justice W. P. Ballinger, but ill health forced him to resign in a few months and retire to his home in Houston, where he died October 3, 1874.
TO 'WILLIAM CHRISTY AND OTHERS 1
New Orleans, May 27, 1845
Gentlemen- Your letter of the 25th inst. has afforded me much pleasure-I thank you for the hospitable welcome you have so kindly given me- · The recollections to which you allude, of the services I may have rendered my adopted Country, awaken reflections embraced in the last thirteen years of my life--To feel assured that my actions have been approved of, and sanctioned by the intelligent and patriotic of another country, cannot fail to afford the highest satisfaction and pleasure-If my course has contributed to the course of Liberty, I have but performed a sacred and a solemn cluty- Permit me in conclusion to say, that nothing will afford me greater pleasure than to address the Citizens of New Orleans, on Wednesday evening, in relation to the subjects which you have been pleased to indicate in your letter, and at the same time let me assure you of my high regard and esteem. Sam Houston [Rubric] To His Excy A. Moulton, William Christy, H. R. W. Hill, L. Matthews, Robert C. Nicholas, G. Burke, H. B. Cenas, Thomas Barrett, & others. 'From the original owned by Mrs. Madge W. Hearne. There is a copy in the Te:rns National Registe1·, June 5, 1845.
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