J. W. Flanagan

J. W. Flanagan
United States Senator from Texas
In office March 30, 1870 – March 3, 1875
Preceded by	Louis Wigfall
Succeeded by	Samuel B. Maxey
Lieutenant Governor of Texas
Acting January 8, 1870 – February 24, 1870
Governor	Edmund J. Davis
Preceded by	George W. Jones
Succeeded by	Donald Campbell (Ex officio) Richard B. Hubbard
Member of the Texas Senate from the 9th district
In office November 5, 1855 – November 2, 1857
Preceded by	David Gage
Succeeded by	Malcolm D. Graham
Member of the Texas House of Representatives from the 10th district
In office November 3, 1851 – November 7, 1853
Preceded by	M. D. K. Taylor
Succeeded by	Andrew G. Melton
Personal details
Born	James Winright Flanagan (1805-09-05)September 5, 1805 Gordonsville, Virginia, U.S.
Died	September 28, 1887(1887-09-28) (aged 82) Longview, Texas, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Children	Webster Flanagan

James Winright Flanagan (September 5, 1805 – September 28, 1887) was an American merchant, lawyer, and farmer from Henderson, Texas. Although never officially inaugurated, he briefly served as the Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1870, before leaving the position to represent Texas in the United States Senate from 1870 to 1875.

Flanagan was born to Charles and Elizabeth (Saunders) Flanagan in Albemarle County near Gordonsville, Virginia. Before his tenth birthday, the family moved to Boonesboro, Kentucky. As a young man he moved to Cloverport, Kentucky, on the Ohio River and became a prosperous merchant. He also read law and was admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1825. He married Polly Moorman in 1826 and the couple had several children before moving to Henderson, Texas, in 1844.

Flanagan established himself in Henderson by opening a store. He bought a farm, speculated in land, and practiced law. Politically, he was a Whig and an active supporter of Sam Houston. He later became a moderate Republican. Flanagan served in the Texas House of Representatives (1851–1852) and the Texas State Senate (1855–1858).

When the Civil War came to Texas, Flanagan was a Unionist. He withdrew to his farm and lived quietly. He would return to active politics during the Reconstruction. Flanagan served as a delegate to both Constitutional Conventions. The first, in 1866, produced a state constitution that was rejected by the Radical Republicans in the U.S. Congress. The second, in 1868–1869, was successful.

Under the new Constitution, Flanagan was elected as Lieutenant Governor in 1869. He only held the position for a month, from January to February 1870. When Texas was readmitted to the Union, the legislature named him, along with Morgan Hamilton, to the U.S. Senate. He served one term as a Senator, until 1875 when he was replaced by the Democrat Samuel Maxey. In the Senate he was a supporter of the Grant Administration. While in Congress, Flanagan did not vote on the Ku Klux Klan Act, but voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1875.^[1][2]

After his Senate term, Flanagan took up residence on one of his farms near Longview, Texas. He married again (he was widowed twice and married three times), this time to Elizabeth Lane. The three marriages produced a total of eleven children. One of Flanagan's children was David Webster Flanagan who also served as Lieutenant Governor in Texas.

Flanagan died on his farm in Longview in 1887 and was buried next to his first wife, Polly, in their family graveyard in Henderson, Texas.

• Biographic sketch at U.S. Congress website
• James Winwright Flanagan from the Handbook of Texas Online