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George
A. Pattillo,
early Texas
settler and
political
leader, was
born in
Georgia about
1796. He moved
to Louisiana
in 1819 and
subsequently
secured one of
the earliest
land grants in
what is now
Jefferson
County when he
moved to Texas
in 1830. He
served as a
member of the
General
Councilqv
from January
13 to March
11, 1836. He
volunteered
for military
duty and was
en route to
San Jacinto
when the
famous battle
there was
fought.
Pattillo
held a number
of public
offices in
Austin and in
Southeast
Texas. He
served as
associate
justice of
Jefferson
County in 1837
before holding
the position
of justice of
the peace in
1838. Although
defeated in
the 1840 House
race, he
represented
Jefferson
County in the
House of
Representatives
of the Sixth
Congress
(1841-42) and
was senator
from Jefferson
and Jasper
counties in
the Seventh,
Eighth, and
Ninth
congresses of
the republic.
During this
period
Pattillo was
chairman of
the Committee
on Enrolled
Bills and led
a successful
fight against
the repeal of
the tariff. He
was also noted
as an ardent
annexationist.
After
the annexationqv
of Texas,
Pattillo
became the
first chief
justice of
Orange County,
in 1852-53. In
1861 he served
as justice of
the peace for
that county.
Tax rolls of
1840 show that
he had title
to more than
3,800 acres of
land in
Jefferson
County and
owned five
horses and
five cattle.
Toward the end
of his life
Pattillo
settled at
Bunn's Bluff,
on the Neches
River north of
Beaumont,
where he
remained until
his death in
1871.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
W. T. Block, A
History of
Jefferson
County, Texas,
from
Wilderness to
Reconstruction
(M.A. thesis,
Lamar
University,
1974;
Nederland,
Texas:
Nederland
Publishing,
1976). Texas
House of
Representatives,
Biographical
Directory of
the Texan
Conventions
and
Congresses,
1832-1845
(Austin: Book
Exchange,
1941).
Robert
Wooster
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