Isham Green Searcy

SEARCY, ISHAM GREEN (1824-1902). Isham Green Searcy, lawyer, soldier, and public official, was born in Rutherford County, Tennessee, on February 24, 1824. He was educated in Tennessee, moved to Texas in his twenties, studied law, and opened a law practice at Anderson in Grimes County by 1853. He married Julia Womack Baker, probably before coming to Texas. They had three children.

During the Civil War he was a first lieutenant in Company D, Eighth Texas Infantry. His gradually increasing property included nine slaves by 1864. In 1869 he and his wife Julia were listed on Grimes County tax rolls as owners of more than 2,000 acres of land and an estate valued at more than $11,000. Searcy was secretary of state under Governor Richard B. Hubbard, 1876-79, served on the penitentiary commission under Governor John Ireland from 1883 to 1885, and was collector of internal revenue for the Third District of Texas from 1884 to 1885. He spent his last years at Rosebud but died at Austin on April 23, 1902. He was buried in the capital at the State Cemetery.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Austin Statesman, April 24, 1902. C. W. Raines, Year Book for Texas (2 vols., Austin: Gammel-Statesman, 1902, 1903).

Claudia Hazlewood

"SEARCY, ISHAM GREEN." The Handbook of Texas Online. [Accessed Fri Jun 20 13:50:40 US/Central 2003].