Texas Legislators: Past & Present

Abram Morris Gentry

Full Name: Abram Morris Gentry
Birth date: May 14, 1821
Death date: February 20, 1883

Terms of Service

Senate, 11th ⁽⁵⁾ ⁽⁶⁾ Legislature
8/6/1866 - 2/7/1870
Senate, 8th ⁽¹⁾ ⁽²⁾ ⁽³⁾ ⁽⁴⁾ ⁽⁷⁾ Legislature
11/9/1859 - 11/4/1861

(1) Entire Senate went up for reelection due to Senatorial redistricting. Act passed Feb. 6, 1860, 8th Legislature, ch. 45, Apportionment Laws of Texas, 1836-1950 1950.
(2) "In April 1860 two seemingly unrelated meetings of Unionists occurred . . . The newly created Constitutional Union party met in the Tyler courthouse to nominate delegates to that party's national convention. A.M. Gentry, . . . Anthony Bannon Norton, Benjamin Holland Epperson, and Lemuel D. Evans, completed a quartet made up of two Whigs, a Know-Nothing, and a Union Democrat. "Origins of Early Texas Republican Party Leadership," Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 444. Journal of Southern History .
(3) Included in "Table II, Constitutional Unionists (Identified from newspapers) with Biographical Data," list of leaders of the Texas Constitutional Union Party in 1860. The party was formed in January of 1860. "The Constitutional Union Party in Texas," The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 82, Number 3, January 1979, pp. 238, 256-262, crediting Texas State Historical Association. Portal to Texas History (University of North Texas Libraries) .
Table II, Constitutional Unionists
(4) 8th Legislature, Regular Session - Not present at the organization of the Senate. First mentioned in appointments to Senate committees, 11/9/1859, p. 10. Senate Journal .
(5) Constitution of 1866, Article III, §§ 29, 30, retained the apportionment of 1860 for Senatorial districts. Texas Constitutions Digitization Project (Tarlton Law Library, The University of Texas at Austin) 2009.
(6) Entire Senate went up for reelection - Constitution of 1869, Article III, § 39. Texas Constitutions Digitization Project (Tarlton Law Library, The University of Texas at Austin) 2009.
(7) 8th Legislature - One of 15 newcomers to the Senate, 8th Regular Session, p. 302. The Texas Senate: Volume I, Republic to Civil War, 1836-1861 1990.

Biographical Notes and Resources

Resolutions and Journal entries

Member roster, 11th Legislature, Regular Session: A.M. Gentry, Houston, Harris County, President Railroad, age 50 in 1866 (born circa 1816). Senate Journal .

Photographs

Photograph. Abram Gentry, Texas Album of the Eighth Legislature

Other Resources

GENTRY, ABRAM MORRIS (1821-1883). Handbook of Texas Online .
". . . one of four delegates representing Texas at the National Constitutional Union Conventions commencing May 9 at Baltimore." Baggett, James Alex, "Origins of Early Texas Republican Party Leadership," The Journal of Southern History, Vol.40(3), August 1974, p. 444. Journal of Southern History .
Gentry was one of four delegates elected to the Constitutional Union Party's national convention in Baltimore. "Senator Abram M. Gentry, who as a Union Democrat had been a very active participant at the earlier San Jacinto assembly." "The Constitutional Union Party in Texas," The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 82, Number 3, January 1979, p. 240, crediting Texas State Historical Association. Portal to Texas History (University of North Texas Libraries) .
Biographical sketch and portrait. Texas Album of the Eighth Legislature 1860.