# 8th Texas Legislature

The 8th Texas Legislature met from November 7, 1859 to April 9, 1861 in its regular session, a first called session, and an adjourned session. All members of the House of Representatives and about half of the members of the Senate were elected in 1859.

## Sessions

* 8th Regular session: November 7, 1859 – February 13, 1860
* 8th First called session: January 21–February 9, 1861
* 8th Adjourned session: March 18–April 9, 1861

## Officers
### Senate
#### Lieutenant Governor

    Edward Clark, Democrat

#### President pro tempore

    Jesse Grimes, Democrat, Regular session

### House of Representatives
#### Speaker of the House

    M. D. K. Taylor, Democrat

## Members

Members of the Eighth Texas Legislature at the beginning of the regular session, November 7, 1859:

### Senate

| District | Senator | Party | Took office |
| 1 | James W. Sims | Democrat | 1859 |
| 2 | Lewis G. Harmon | Democrat | 1859 |
| 3 | Martin D. Hart | Democrat | 1859 |
| 4 | James W. Throckmorton | Democrat | 1857 |
| 5 | Albert G. Walker | Democrat | 1857 (First time: 1849–1851) |
| 6 | Emory Rains | Democrat | 1859 |
| 7 | John Green Chambers | Democrat | 1859 |
| 8 | Louis T. Wigfall | Democrat | 1857 |
| 9 | Jesse H. Parsons | Democrat | 1859 |
| 10 | Elisha Everett Lott | Democrat | 1853 |
| 11 | Robert Henry Guinn | Democrat | 1853 |
| 12 | Alexis T. Rainey | Democrat | 1859 |
| 13 | John N. Fall | Democrat | 1857 |
| 14 | John R. Dickinson | Democrat | 1859 |
| 15 | Henry C. Wallace | Democrat | 1859 |
| 16 | Enoch S. Pitts | Democrat | 1859 |
| 17 | Mark M. Potter | Democrat | 1851 |
| 18 | Abram Morris Gentry | Democrat | 1859 |
| 19 | Jesse Grimes | Democrat | 1855 (First time: 1846–1853) |
| 20 | Chauncey Berkeley Shepard | Democrat | 1857 |
| 21 | David M. Whaley | Democrat | 1858 |
| 22 | Francis Marion Martin | Democrat | 1859 |
| 23 | George Bernard Erath | Democrat | 1857 |
| 24 | George E. Quinan | Democrat | 1857 |
| 25 | Eggleston D. Townes | Democrat | 1859 |
| 26 | Fletcher S. Stockdale | Democrat | 1857 |
| 27 | Thomas Hinds Duggan | Democrat | 1859 (First time: 1851–1853) |
| 28 | Edwin B. Scarborough | Democrat | 1853 |
| 29 | Forbes Britton | Democrat | 1857 |
| 30 | Isaiah Addison Paschal | Democrat | 1857 (First time: 1853–1855) |
| 31 | Gustav Schleicher | Democrat | 1859 |
| 32 | Claiborne C. Herbert | Democrat | 1857 |
| 33 | Archibald C. Hyde | Democrat | 1857 |

### House of Representatives

| District | Representative | Party | Took Office |
| 1 | Solomon H. Pirkey | Unknown | November 12, 1859 |
* Basilio Benavides
* Anthony Martin Branch
* Kindallis Bryan
* Constantine W. Buckley
* William Clark
* David B. Culberson
* Nicholas Henry Darnell
* John Wilson Davis, Jr.
* Isaac N. Dennis
* David Catchings Dickson
* Edward Dougherty
* Foscue
* James Carlton Francis
* Benjamin Cromwell Franklin
* De Witt Clinton Fort
* Lindsay Hagler, San Patricio County
* James Marshall Harrison
* John L. Haynes
* J. W. Henderson
* Alfred Marmaduke Hobby
* Richard Bennett Hubbard, Jr.
* Henry Lawrence Kinney
* Francis J. Lynch
* John Haywood Manley
* Samuel Maverick
* John N. McClarty
* George McKnight
* Roger Q. Mills
* William Wright Morris
* Titus H. Mundine
* José Ángel Navarro
* Allison Nelson
* Anthony Banning Norton
* Benjamin F. Parker
* Samuel Redgate
* Joel Walter Robison
* Shelton
* Daniel McDowell Short
* John Dennis Stell
* M. D. K. Taylor
* Robert H. Taylor
* Robert J. Townes
* Jacob Waelder
* Charles A. Warfield
* George Washington Whitmore
* William Amos Wortham
* Friedrich Wilhelm von Wrede, Jr.

## Membership changes
### Senate

| District | Outgoing Senator | Reason for Vacancy | Successor | Date of Successor's Installation |
| District 3 | Martin D. Hart | Hart resigned February 26, 1861. | Turner L. Greene | Unknown |
| District 8 | Louis T. Wigfall | Wigfall announced his resignation on December 7, 1859. | E. A. Blanch | January 14, 1860 |
| District 9 | Jesse H. Parsons | Parsons resigned after the adjourned session. | None | |
| District 12 | Alexis T. Rainey | Rainey resigned after the regular session. | Steward Alexander Miller | January 21, 1861 |
| District 14 | John R. Dickinson | Dickinson resigned after the regular session. | Henry P. C. Dulany | January 26, 1861 |
| District 15 | Henry C. Wallace | Wallace resigned January 4, 1861. | Franklin Barlow Sexton | None |
| District 15 | Franklin Barlow Sexton | Sexton did not appear. | None | |
| District 25 | Eggleston D. Townes | Townes resigned March 13, 1861. | Nathan George Shelley | November 4, 1861 |
| District 29 | Forbes Britton | Britton died February 14, 1861. | Benjamin Franklin Neal | March 19, 1861 |
| District 30 | Isaiah Addison Paschal | Paschal resigned March 29, 1861. | Unknown | Unknown |
* ^ District 15: Sexton did not return from Confederate States Army service in time to meet with the legislature.
* ^ District 25: Shelley elected in special election held March 25, 1861 and sworn in with the Ninth Texas Legislature.

### House of Representatives

| District | Outgoing Representative | Reason for Vacancy | Successor | Date of Successor's Installation |
| District 22 | John N. McClarty | McClarty resigned after the regular session. | William Wright Morris | January 22, 1861 |
| District 65 | Henry Lawrence Kinney | Kinney was opposed to secession and resigned February 9, 1861. | Alfred Marmaduke Hobby | March 19, 1861 |