Chief Justice John Edward Hickman

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, friends, and I'll do my best to do it justice. John Edward Hickman was born in 1883, right here in Williamson County, and the roots under his feet went deep. His people were descended from 1849 settlers who'd made the long haul from Alabama, and his father and mother, Nathaniel Franklin and Mary J.

Porterfield Hickman, raised him in that same tradition of settling in and getting to work. He got his early schooling at the Liberty Hill Normal and Commercial College, then set his sights on the law. Now, the road to that law degree wasn't a straight shot.

He kept stopping along the way to teach school, interruptions that would slow most men down, but Hickman just kept going back. He earned that law degree at the University of Texas in 1910. Then he set up practice as an attorney, first in Dublin over in Erath County, then in Breckenridge in Stephens County.

He'd spend sixteen years working those towns. And here's where the story gets interesting. Oil was discovered in both areas.

Boom conditions arrived, and with the boom came cases, some of them, the marker tells us, historic ones. The kind of cases a lawyer doesn't forget. In 1926 he was elected Associate Justice.

Then in 1928 he became Chief Justice of the Court of Civil Appeals, sitting in Eastland. That was just the beginning of the climb. In 1935 he was appointed to the Supreme Court Commission of Appeals.

In 1945 he became an associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court. And then, on January seventh, 1948, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, a post he would fill until 1961. By the time it was all tallied up, he is credited with four hundred and thirty-three opinions of that court.

Four hundred and thirty-three. That is a man who showed up and did the work, year after year. But the law was only part of who he was.

He was a devout Christian who taught a Bible class for about fifty years, and he served as a trustee of Southern Methodist University from 1921 all the way to 1962. He married Ethel Markward, who passed away in 1921, and later married Lena Pettit, who survived him. John Edward Hickman died in 1962, a native son of Williamson County who had spent his life building something that would outlast him.

Four hundred and thirty-three opinions. Fifty years of Bible teaching. A long road from Liberty Hill to the highest court in Texas.

That's a life that lands.

What the marker says

(1883-1962) A distinguished chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court, and a native of Williamson County. Descendant of 1849 settlers from Alabama, he was a son of Nathaniel Franklin and Mary J. Porterfield Hickman. He attended the Liberty Hill Normal and Commercial College, and (with interruptions to teach school) earned a law degree at the University of Texas in 1910. For 16 years he was an attorney in Dublin (Erath County) and Breckenridge (Stephens County). Oil was discovered in both areas, and with boom conditions his practice included some historic cases. Elected Associate Justice (1926), he became in 1928 Chief Justice, Court of Civil Appeals, Eastland. He was appointed to the Supreme Court Commission of Appeals in 1935; became an associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court in 1945; and on Jan. 7, 1948, was appointed Chief Justice -- a post he filled until 1961. He is credited with 433 opinions of the Texas Supreme Court. A devout Christian, he taught a Bible class about 50 years, and served 1921-62 as a trustee of Southern Methodist University. He married (1) Ethel Markward (d. 1921) and (2) Lena Pettit, who survived him. (1971)