Matthew Francis Locke (1824–1911) was an American politician in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. He was elected to the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abou ...

and the

Texas Senate The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per cons ...

. Locke served as

Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives The Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the Texas House of Representatives. The Speaker's main duties are to conduct meetings of the House, appoint committees, and enforce the Rules of the House. The current s ...

in the

Seventh Texas Legislature The Seventh Texas Legislature met from November 2, 1857 to February 16, 1858 in its regular session. All members of the House of Representatives and about half of the members of the Senate were elected in 1857. Sessions * 7th Regular session: Nove ...

. He was also the first Arkansas Commissioner of Agriculture.

Early life

Locke was born in

Murfreesboro Murfreesboro is a city in and county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 152,769 according to the 2020 census, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010. Murfreesboro is located in the Nashville metropol ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

on 20 July 1824 to Margaret Bell Bowman and William Locke. In 1836, the family moved to Marshall County,

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

Military service

Upon the outbreak of the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

, Locke enlisted in the 1st Regiment of Mississippi Volunteers, where he was a bodyguard to Col.

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...

. He tended to Davis’ foot wound and was present at the surrender at the

Battle of Buena Vista The Battle of Buena Vista (February 22–23, 1847), known as the Battle of La Angostura in Mexico, and sometimes as Battle of Buena Vista/La Angostura, was a battle of the Mexican–American War. It was fought between the US invading forces, l ...

. Locke also accompanied Maj. Gen.

Zachary Taylor Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military leader who served as the 12th president of the United States from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to th ...

when he entered

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

Political career

After the war, Locke returned to Mississippi, and in 1849 married Elizabeth A. Biue. Shortly thereafter they moved to Upshur County,

. He established a plantation about 13 miles (21 km) northeast of present-day Gilmer and founded the nearby town of

LaFayette Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to: People * Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette * House of La Fayette, a French noble family ** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757� ...

(which he named after his son, LaFayette C. Locke, who was born in 1850). Locke began the first of two terms as a state representative in 1855 in the

Sixth Texas Legislature The 6th Texas Legislature met from November 5, 1855 to September 1, 1856 in its regular session and one adjourned session. All 80 members of the Texas House of Representatives and about half of the members of the Texas Senate were elected in 1855. ...

. In the Seventh Legislature, Locke was elected Speaker of the House ''pro tempore'' on 26 December 1857 when Speaker William S. Taylor took ill. When Taylor resigned on 18 January 1858, Locke was elected Speaker over Reps. Isaac N. Dennis and

John Henry Brown John Henry Brown (October 29, 1820 – May 31, 1895) was an American journalist, military leader, author, politician, and historian, who served as a state legislator and as mayor of both Galveston (1856) and Dallas, Texas (1885-1887). Brown was ...

, 39 votes to 14 and 13, respectively. In 1860, Locke was elected to the

from

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. In 1861, Locke was a member of the Texas Secession Convention, and was on the committee that informed

Sam Houston Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played an important role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two i ...

, a lifelong friend of Locke’s, that the convention had removed him from office. When Locke was appointed a colonel in the

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

by Gov. Edward Clark, he resigned his senate seat and raised the unit that became the

10th Texas Cavalry Regiment The 10th Texas Cavalry Regiment was a unit of mounted volunteers in the Confederate States Army which fought during the American Civil War. The regiment mustered as cavalry in October 1861 but was dismounted in April 1862 and served as infantry fo ...

when it was transferred to the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

. He served throughout the war, including at the

Battle of Murfreesboro The Battle of Stones River, also known as the Second Battle of Murfreesboro, was a battle fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee, as the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the Ame ...

, fought near his hometown.

Later years

In September 1864, shortly after giving birth, Elizabeth Locke died in LaFayette. After the war, Locke settled in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

and was one of the founders of the town of

Alma Alma or ALMA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film * ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922 * ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017 * ''Alma'' (play), a 1996 drama by Joshua Sobol about Alma ...

, where he married Narcissa A. Montgomery. His residence, the first in Alma, was constructed in 1868–1869 using lumber hauled in by oxen team, and was located at the corner of Fayetteville Road and Walnut Street. He was elected the first Commissioner of Agriculture for the state of Arkansas in 1887 and served for a number of years.Source does not indicate number of terms or number of years served. Following the death of Narcissa Locke in 1886, Locke married again in 1890 to Jennie Lester White. In 1909, Locke returned to Texas for his wife’s health, locating in

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

. There he died on 4 June 1911. By his three wives, Locke had at least eleven children, about six of whom survived him.

Notes

References

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Locke, Matthew Francis 1824 births 1911 deaths Speakers of the Texas House of Representatives Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives Texas state senators Arkansas Democrats American military personnel of the Mexican–American War People of Texas in the American Civil War People from Marshall County, Mississippi 19th-century American legislators People from Upshur County, Texas