Born in Enfield, Connecticut, Elisha Marshall Pease, 1812-1883, was the son of Lorrain Thompson Pease and Sarah Marshall. After his graduation from Westfield Academy and work as a post office clerk in Hartford, Connecticut, Pease moved to the Mina Municipality, Texas in 1835. During the Texas Revolution, he served as secretary of a committee of safety in Mina and secretary of the General Council of the Provisional Government and also in the battle of Gonzalez. In 1836, Pease was appointed acting secretary of the treasury, became the republic’s first comptroller of public accounts, and started a law practice in Brazoria after being admitted to the bar in 1837. Following the annexation of Texas, Pease represented Brazoria County in the first three legislatures and was elected governor in 1853, a position he served in until 1863. He helped establish a public education system, a state university, and reservations for Texas’s Native American population. Additionally, Pease resolved the state’s public debt and used extra funds to found schools for the deaf and blind as well as a state hospital for the mentally ill. A supporter of the Union during the Civil War, Pease lost the gubernatorial race in 1866. He subsequently became involved in the formation of the Republican party in Texas until he was asked to replace James W. Throckmorton as governor, a position he held until 1869.
Source:
Griffin, Roger A.
Composed of correspondence, reminiscences, legal documents, a broadside, and a catalogue, the Elisha Marshall Pease Papers, 1834-1927, chronicle Pease’s career as an attorney and governor of Texas. Correspondence primarily consists of letters exchanged between Pease and his father concerning his journey from Connecticut to Texas as well as familial affairs (1834-1841). A typescript of Pease’s reminiscences describe his life in Texas upon his arrival in 1835, his experiences during the revolution, and his subsequent political career. The collection also contains legal documents comprising a proclamation for the apprehension of murderer Jesse C. Russell (1854) and a typescript of Pease’s will (1883); a broadside poster for Pease’s re-election campaign (1855); and a typescript catalogue of his library (1927).
This collection is open for research use.
Elisha Marshall Pease Papers, 1834-1927, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s