Richard Coke
Robert Coke (1829–1897) was an American lawyer, farmer, and statesman from Waco, Texas. He was governor of Texas from 1874 to 1876 and represented Texas in the U.S. Senate from 1877 to 1895.
Richard was born in Williamsburg, Virginia on March 13, 1829 to John and Eliza (Hankins Coke. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1848 with a law degree. In 1850 he moved to Texas and opened a law practive in Waco. In 1852 he married Mary Horne of Waco. The couple would have four children, but all of them died before age 30.
Civil war
Coke as a delegate to the Sucession Convention at Austin in 1861. In 862 he raised a company that became part of the 15th Texas Infantry, and served as its Captain for the resy of the war. He was wounded in an action known as Bayou Bourbeau on November 3, 1863 near Opelousas, Louisiana. After the war he returned home to Waco.
Political career
In 1865 he was apointed a Texas District Cort Judge, then in 1866 he was elected as an Associate Justice to the Texas Supreme Court. The following year the military governor, Philip Sheridan, ordered his removal as a part of the reconstruction policies.
Coke was elected Governor as a Democrat in 1873, and took office in January of 1874. He resigned in December of 1876 to take up his new job as a Senator. His administration was marked by vigorous action to balance the budget and by a revisd State Constitution adopted in 1876. He was also instrumental in creating the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, which became Texas A&M University.
First elected to the United States Senate in 1876, Coke took office on March 5, 1877. He would be elected twice more, and serve until March 3, 1895. Coke wasn?t a candidate for reelection in 1874.
Later events
Richard retired to his home in Waco and his nearby farm. He became ill after suffering exposure while fighting a flood of the Brazos River in April of 1897. After a short illness, he died at his home in Waco on May 14, 1897 and was bured in the Oakwood Cemetery there. Coke County is named in his honor.
