Gov. E. Marshall Pease and First Lady Lucadia

Elisha Marshall Pease was probably the least known and written about of the early Texas Governors. Born in Connecticut, he arrived in Texas in January 1835 to serve at the Battle of Gonzales and Bexar. He also served as a clerk at the March 1, 1836 convention at Washington on the Brazos. There, the first draft of the Declaration of Independence for the Republic of Texas is possibly in his handwriting. In his late political career, at the time of the Civil War, he was often referred to as a Unionist because of his birth state of Connecticut.

Elizabeth Whitlow has authored a detailed account of Pease’s career along with his wife, Lucadia Niles Pease, that was published by the University of North Texas Press, in 2021. Entitled “Identified with Texas, the Lives of Governor Elisha Marshall Pease and Lucadia Niles Pease,” it is an authentic documented near half century historical study of politics and life in Texas from 1835 until Governor Pease’s sudden death in August 1883. Whitlow then continues with First Lady Lucinda’s life until her death 22 years later in 1905.

Pease was born as a first son Jan. 3, 1812 to L. T. Pease and Sarah Marshall Pease at Enfield, Connecticut. He was named Elisha Marshall for the first and last names of his maternal grandfather. The family called him “Marshall” all his life. He descended from a long line of ancestors who came in 1634 from England with the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Pease’s grandfather fought in the Revolution at Bunker Hill and other sites.

Pease left home at age 14 to become a clerk. Seven years later as he moved westward, he heard stories about Texas arriving in early 1835 at the age of 23. That following October he volunteered to fight in the first battle of the Revolution at Gonzales and served in the Texan Army at the Siege of Bexar. Next, he was serving as a clerk at the Washington-on-the-Brazos Convention of 1836. Illness kept him from being at the Battle of San Jacinto, but instead was serving Burnet’s provisional government to become chief clerk for the interim government’s Secretary of the Navy Robert Potter.

Pease then joined John A. Wharton’s law practice in Brazoria to pass the bar exam and he was off to a highly successful law career that later led to wealth. He would serve in the first three state legislatures to forever be identified as a Texan. It was then he returned to Connecticut to become engaged to Lucadia Christiana Niles and wed in 1850. They were second cousins via a great grandmother.

Pease disliked “politiks” yet, with Lucadia’s urging, he successfully ran for governor in 1853. It would lead to two terms through 1857. Ineligible to again run for Governor, Pease was urged to run for the Senate. Pease refused. He is quoted to tell Lucadia that “I have always labored harder for the public while in office, than for myself in private life…and have the satisfaction of knowing my services have been appreciated by a large majority of my fellow citizens.”

Following the Civil War, with problems arising from Texas coping with Reconstruction, Pease was named a ‘provisional Governor” replacing Governor James W. Throckmorton by General Philip Sheridan, commander of the 5th Military District on August 8, 1867. He served through those difficult times until Texas was accepted back into the United States by Congress in March 1870.

After Reconstruction, Pease resumed his law practice, became owner of a bank, and contributed to civic improvements. Over his lifetime, Pease continued to hold Unionist values, yet felt the slavery issue could be “worked out” without conflict. He actually owned several slaves for his household and small farm. Lucadia, abhorred slavery, and always referred to the slaves as Marhsall’s, never ‘theirs.’

During the slavery conflict, the Pease’s lived at Woodlawn, a historical beautiful mansion on the west side of Austin that still stands. Following Pease’s death, Lucadia and her daughter Julie, still maintained the home and opened it for special events. She would die there in 1905.

Written by Betty Dunn, Two Rivers Heritage Foundation. See www.tworiversheritagefoundation. org for more info and membership.