James Andrew "Jack" Beall (October 25, 1866 – February 11, 1929) was an American

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

. He represented

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from 1903 to 1915.

Early years

Beall was born on a farm near Midlothian, Texas to Richard Beall and Adelaide Pierce Beall. He attended the county schools and then taught school in 1884 and 1885. He was graduated from the law department of the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

, in 1890, and was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in

Waxahachie, Texas Waxahachie ( ) is the seat of government of Ellis County, Texas, United States. Its population was 41,140 in 2020. Etymology Some sources state that the name means "cow" or "buffalo" in an unspecified Native American language. One possible ...

Public service

Beall was a member of 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 abo ...

, 1892–1895. He served in 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 co ...

, 1895–1899, and was elected as a Democrat to the 58th Congress, and to the five succeeding Congresses, March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1915. In Congress, he was chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Justice (62nd Congress). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1914. Along with members of the southern delegation to Congress, Beall was opposed to

William Jennings Bryan William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator and politician. Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the Democratic Party, running three times as the party's nominee for President ...

on the latter's 1909 support of

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...

, citing the Texas preference of handling the matter on local levels. On July 4, 1911, Congressman Beall spoke before a crowd of 1,500 at Meriden, Connecticut for that city's Independence Day celebration. The crowd found him "charming" and "eloquent" as he spoke of the nation's history, his faith in God, and of the heroes of the old South.

Later years

After leaving Congress, Beall moved to

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

, in 1914, and became a law partner with M.D. Templeton and Tony B. Williams. In 1923, he became a senior law partner of Beall, Watson, Rollins, Burford and Ryburn. Beall became president of the Dallas Union Trust Company in 1927. He served as president of the Texas Electric Railway from 1921 until his death.

Personal life and death

In 1898, he married Patricia Martin of Waxahachie. The couple had one child, Jack Beall (December 6, 1898 – January 11, 1963). Jack Beall died in Dallas of a heart attack on February 11, 1929. He was buried in the Oakland Cemetery in Dallas.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beall, James Andrew) 1866 births 1929 deaths Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas Burials at Oakland Cemetery (Dallas, Texas) People from Ellis County, Texas University of Texas School of Law alumni