Associate Justice, Texas Supreme Court, 1866-1867
Little is known of George Washington Smith's early years, except that he was born in Kentucky around the year 1823 and moved to Texas in 1847.
Smith settled near Columbus in Colorado County, owned land there, and practiced law. He married and had two children. In 1859 he was appointed judge of the First District court, and served until 1866. In 1860 he became commissioner of the Columbus Tap Railway, which linked Columbus to Houston and Galveston. His leadership in railroad development would result in a locomotive being named after him in 1870. Smith was an opponent of secession but remained in Texas through out the Civil War.
Smith participated in the Constitutional Convention of 1866. That year Gov. Andrew Hamilton reappointed him to the First District judgeship, but in August he was elected to the Texas Supreme Court. He was one of the justices removed as an “impediment to Reconstruction” on September 10, 1867 when Texas came under military command. The following year he served as a delegate to the Democratic national convention. He went on to serve in the Texas House of Representatives during the Thirteenth legislative session in 1873.
Smith died of yellow fever at his home in Colorado County on October 24, 1873 at the approximate age of fifty.
Casey v. March,
Jackson, Charles Christopher. Smith, George Washington,
Handbook of Texas Online (June 6, 2001). http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/SS/fsm17.html
