Joseph Draper SAYERS, Congress, TX (1841-1929)

SAYERS Joseph Draper , a Representative from Texas; born in Grenada, Grenada County, Miss., September 23, 1841; moved with his father to Bastrop, Tex., in 1851; attended Bastrop Military Institute; entered the Confederate Army in 1861 and served throughout the Civil War, attaining the rank of major; taught school; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1866 and commenced practice in Bastrop, Tex.; member of the State senate 1873-1879; chairman of the Democratic State executive committee 1875-1878; Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 1879 and 1880; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-ninth and to the six succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1885, until his resignation on January 16, 1899; chairman, Committee on Appropriations (Fifty-third Congress); Governor of Texas 1899-1903; resumed the practice of his profession in Austin, Travis County, Tex.; member of the State board of regents of the University of Texas at Austin in 1913; chairman of the State industrial accident board in 1914 and 1915; member of the State board of legal examiners 1923-1925; appointed a member of the State pardon board in 1927 and served until his death in Austin, Tex., May 15, 1929; interment in Fairview Cemetery, Bastrop, Tex.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present