Ben T. Ramsey

Notes:

From the Handbook of Texas Online:

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/RR/fra61.html


RAMSEY, BEN (1903-1985). Ben Ramsey, Texas state legislator, secretary of state, lieutenant governor, and railroad commissioner, was born at San Augustine on December 28, 1903, the son of William Charles Ramsey. He attended San Augustine public schools and worked on the family farm. After finishing high school, he worked three years in his father's law and abstract office, then enrolled at the University of Texas. He passed the state bar examination before graduation and was licensed to practice law in 1931. Ramsey was elected state representative and served two terms. Afterward he returned to San Augustine to practice law with his brother for five years. In 1940 he was elected to the first of two four-year terms as state senator. He became a Senate leader in antideficit legislation and legislation to regulate labor unions. In 1949 Governor Beauford H. Jester chose Ramsey to be secretary of state . In 1950 Ramsey was elected lieutenant governor. When Governor Allan Shivers 's conservative branch of Texas Democrats clashed with the state's more liberal Democrats, led by Senate majority leader Lyndon B. Johnson and Speaker Samuel T. (Sam) Rayburn of Texas, the two factions agreed to support Ramsey as a member of the National Democratic Committee.

In fiscal affairs, especially opposition to higher taxes, Ramsey was considered conservative. Despite this, he supported Governor Shivers in raising revenue necessary for higher teachers' pay, state hospitals, and prisons. Like Shivers he was an enemy of labor unions. He strongly supported rural electrification, water conservation and development, paving of farms roads, and stricter laws regulating what he called "fly-by-night insurance companies." In 1961 Gov. Price Daniel?sup? ?/sup?appointed him to the Railroad Commission . The next year he was elected to the unexpired term and in 1964 and 1970 was reelected to full six-year terms. He served three two-year terms as chairman. Just before his appointment to the commission, Texas was successful in achieving control over offshore oil (?i?see?/i? TIDELANDS CONTROVERSY ), and Ramsey helped compose the rules for Texas coastal drilling. He chose not to run for reelection in 1976. Ramsey married Florine Hankla of San Augustine, and the couple had three children. He died on March 27, 1985, in Austin and was buried in San Augustine.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: David F. Prindle, ?i?Petroleum Politics and the Texas Railroad Commission?/i? (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981). ?i?Texas Bar Journal?/i?, October, 1985. Vertical Files, Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.

Ben married Florine Hankla about 1943 in Boulder, Boulder County, Colorado. Florine (daughter of Samuel Flournoy Hankla and Lula Elma Smith) was born on 19 Dec 1920 in Geneva, Sabine County, Texas; died on 5 Dec 2009 in Austin, Travis County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Living
2. Living
3. Living

Notes:

Sam Ramsey emailed, in January 2012, that the "Birth date of William Charles Ramsey was December 20, 1868 in Rural Burkville-Newton County, Texas. Died January 23, 1930 in San Augustine, Texas. Source: The Genealogy of Benjamin F. Ramsey (1837-1913), his father."

"KILLED BY LIGHTNING: Mr. W. C. Ramsey left the city Tuesday afternoon hurriedly in an effort to reach the train in Nacogdoches, having just received the awful news that his brother Frank, who lives near Cisco in Eastland county, had been killed and another brother, Eddy, seriously injured.
It seems the young men had just finished planting potatoes and had sat down at the end of the row reviewing the work while the little thunder cloud passed away. Frank and Eddy Ramsey are well known to the people of the southern portion of the county and we seriously regret the awful accident, and sympathize with their many relatives. San Augustine Visitor."

(Research):

Census Listings:

1920 Census
Texas, San Augustine County, JP One, San Augustine Town
Enumerated 14 Jan 1920
SD 326 ED 176 Sheet 11A
Ramsey, William C Head M W 51 M Tx Ga Ga Lawyer General Practice
Ramsey, Emma T Wf F W 40 M Tx Ga Ga
Ramsey, Smith C Son M W 17 S Tx Tx Tx
Ramsey, Ben T Son M W 16 S Tx Tx Tx
Ramsey, Letitia H Dtr F W 11 S Tx Tx Tx
Ramsey, Lurette E Dtr F W 9 S Tx Tx Tx
Ramsey, Mary B Dtr F W 7 S Tx Tx Tx
Ramsey, George W Son M W 5 S Tx Tx Tx
Ramsey, Thomas E Son M W 6/12 S Tx Tx Tx

William married Emma T. Jenkins on 27 May 1900 in Newton County, Texas. Emma was born about 1880 in Texas; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

On her Gedcom, Barbara Dore notes that the last name might instead be GENKINS, and that she was born in Alabama, not Texas.