Silas Hare, Sr.

The Sunday
Gazetteer
Sunday,
December 6,
1908
pg. 1
HON. SILAS HARE, SR
Doubtless
no citizen of Sherman has ever died since
the founding of the town who
left more sincere friends to mourn with deep
sorrow than the demise of
Judge Silas Hare. Among the
citizenship Grayson county has
never
had a better friend to her every interest.
She has never had
a
man more capable to advocate her interest,
intellectually, nor one more
competent and wiling from unselfish motives.
In the councils
of
her people, when action was demanded for the
promotion of a public
enterprise, his advise was sought, and if
money was required his purse
strings were opened, and no one gave more
unsparingly than he according
to his means. Was it charity, he was
one of the very first to
be
approached and no real object of want was
turned away empty-handed.
As a friend he was warm in his
devotions, confiding and ever
ready to extend a helping hand if necessary.
As a lawyer he
stood
at the head of the bar in North Texas.
While not an orator of
eloquence with beautifully rounded periods,
his convincing force was
his logic that rarely ever failed him as an
advocate. As a
jurist, his well poised mind and knowledge
of the law, eminently
qualified him for the bench and won for him
laurels as a competent and
just judge.
A soldier at the age of 18, he entered the
service of his country and was in the
Mexican War. An honored
Confederate - his patriotic zeal for his
country in times that tried
men's souls always led where duty called
with a cheerful devotion.
As
a statesman, in the councils of his country,
his usefulness was as
marked by intelligent, industrious and
conscientious action for the
best interests of his people as
characterized his private, his judicial
or military life.
A democrat of the old school of Jefferson
and
Jackson, he never varied from their
teachings. The writer of
this
article has known him for thirty-six years
intimately and has followed
him in his triumphs and defeats, in
prosperity and adversity, and can
truthfully say he never knew a truer man.
Judge Silar Hare
was a
gentleman in all the term implies. His
work was finished
well, a
long and useful life spent, when at the ripe
age of 81 he was called to
the fathers.
Farewell, generous friend.
The funeral services
were held at the residence of Silar Hare,
Jr., on South Travis street,
Monday at 2 o'clock p.m. The services
were conducted by Rev.
J.M.
Binkley, the pioneer Methodist clergyman of
Sherman and an old personal
friend of Judge Hare. They were short
but impressive, the
Rev.
gentleman paying a noble tribute to the many
virtues of the deceased.
There was a large attendance of
grey-bearded men who came to
testify by their presence their love and
esteem for their old time
friend and comrade in arms. At the
grave Rev. Binkley read
the
burial service, and the choir sang that
beautiful hymn "In the Sweet By
and By."
The floral offerings were numerous and the
new made mound was buried
'neath a profusion of flowers and
evergreens.
The active pallbearers selected from the
Grayson County bar were:
J.A.L.
Wolfe, C.L. Vowell, Ben L. Jones, Cecil H.
Smith, W.W. Wilkins, W.J.
Mathis, Rice Maxey, and H.O. Head.
Associate Justice T.J.
Brown
of the Supreme Court was also named but sent
a letter of regret that it
was impossible for him to be present, and
testifying to his high regard
for Judge Hare as an advocate.
The honorary pallbearers selected from among
the pioneers and old
friends of Judge Hare were:
L.F. Ely, Geo. A. Dickerman, R.A. Chapman,
B.C.
Murray, T.J. Crooks, J.P. Hopson, Jesse
P. Loving, Ed. F. Halsell, J.E. Wharton,
J.L. Randolph, West
Scott, D.E. Bryant, Ed Metz, Legrande Woods,
and Sam Bonham.
General Luther
Hare
and Silas Hare, Jr. came from Washington
today with the body.
Being ill, Mrs. Hare, wife of the
deceased, did not come to
Texas. Mrs. Frank Hare of Uvalde and
Mrs. Eula Smith of New
Orleans, son and daughter of Judge Hare,
awaited the arrival of the
body at Sherman.
Judge Silas Hare was born Nov. 13, 1827 in
Ross county, Ohio.
Graduated at Greencastle (Ind.) College,
1846.
Enlisted as private First Indian Regiment,
Mexican War.
Admitted to bar at Noblesville, Ind. in
1849.
Married Miss Octavia E. Rector of Piqua
county, Ohio, 1859.
Moved to Texas shortly after and practiced
law at Belton three years.
Spent next three years in New Mexico and
Arizona in the practice of
law, then became Chief Justice of Arizona.
Commissioned as Captain in First Arizona
Confederate States army in
1862.
Located at Sherman in the practice of law in
1865.
Made Judge of the Criminal District Court
for the district composed of
Grayson, Dallas, and Collin counties in
1873.
Made County Judge of Grayson County in 1876.
Elected to Congress, Fifth Texas District,
in 1886 and served two terms.
Upon retirement from Congress took up
practice of law at Washington and
has since made that city his home.
Married his second wife, Mrs. Louise Kennedy
of Washington.
The Sunday Gazetteer
Sunday, December
6,
1908



Biography Index
Susan Hawkins
©2025
If
you
find any of Grayson County
TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a
message.
|