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David Abner, black legislator, was born in Selma, Alabama, in 1826 and brought to Texas in 1843 by the daughter of his master, who, with her husband, settled in Upshur County. Abner remained there until after the Civil War. In 1866 he moved to Marshall. There he came in contact with Mrs. Fannie Richardson, the sister of his first owner in Alabama. Mrs. Richardson rented a mule, some farm equipment, and forty acres of land known as the Nathan Smith Plantation to Abner on credit. After settling in Harrison County the former slave became a prosperous farmer, and after a few years of hard labor and frugal living he managed to buy the farm. By 1876 he was signing notes, bonds, and securities for thousands of dollars for whites as well as blacks. According to oral sources, Abner was a natural politician. After settling in Marshall, he was appointed to the State Executive Committee of the Colored Men's Convention of 1873 and was later elected Harrison county treasurer. In 1874 he was elected to the Texas legislature. The next year he was also elected a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1875, and in 1876 he was a member and a vice president of the Republican state convention.
Abner participated in many civic activities in Harrison County. He helped to organize Bethesda Baptist Church and became one of its first deacons. He also helped to establish the first elementary school for blacks in Harrison County. After leaving the legislature he continued his interest in education. He was at the forefront of the movement to establish Bishop College and served as one of the two original black trustees.
The 1880 census listed him as a farmer. He and his wife, Mollie,
reported eight children in their household. Seven were Abner's children
from a previous marriage, including David Abner, Jr., and two stepchildren;
one child, Lucy, was Mollie's daughter from a previous marriage. When Abner
retired from the legislature he went into the ice business in order to
enhance an already sizable estate, which included over 300 acres of land
in East Texas. He died in 1902 and was buried in a family plot in the Old
Powder Mill Cemetery, Marshall.
David Abner, Jr., the first black professor of Bishop College, minister,
and president of Guadalupe College, the son of David Abner, Sr., was born
in Upshur County, Texas, on November 25, 1860. After attending public schools
and studying classics at Straight University in New Orleans, Louisiana,
he went to Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1877. While he was
at the university, one of his compositions in Greek was placed on display
at the Nashville exposition. Abner became the first black person to graduate
from a Texas institution of higher learning when he received his degree
from Bishop College in 1881. After graduation, he became a professor for
the Baptist Home Mission Society of New York. In 1883 he was chosen as
a delegate to the National Convention of Black Men in Louisville, Kentucky.
He served as a Baptist minister, as corresponding secretary for the Baptist
State Convention of Texas, and as editor of the Baptist Journal and two
other newspapers. Abner was president of Guadalupe College from its founding
until 1905, when he became president of Conroe College. He lectured, wrote,
and traveled until 1917, when he left the college to head the National
Baptist Convention Theological Seminary at Nashville. He was among the
founders of the Odd Fellows Lodge in Texas, and a District Grand Master
of the organization in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Abner married Ella
Wheeler, with whom he had two children. He died on July 21, 1928.
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