Leonidas J. Storey was born on October 6, 1834, in Chattooga County, Georgia, to John and Lucy Storey. His father was a farmer who owned $25,000 of real estate by 1850. The family moved to Gonzales, Texas, around 1845, and they settled in Lockhart, Texas, two years later. By the late 1850s, he was working as a lawyer in Lockhart. He married Lucinda J. Ellison on April 19, 1859, and they had at least eight children: Mary, born around 1865; Leonidas, born around 1866; Lou, born around 1867; Augustus, born around 1870; Julia, born around 1872; Stella, born around 1874; Annie, born around 1877; and William, born around 1879. By 1860, the family owned $100 of real estate and $2,000 of personal property.

 

In 1861, he received a commission as a 1^st lieutenant in the 26^th Texas Cavalry. He was promoted to 1^st lieutenant in December 1861. He remained in the army until at least December 1864.

 

He returned to Lockhart after the war and resumed his work as a lawyer. By 1870, he owned $5,950 of real estate and $900 of personal property. He supported the Democratic Party, and he served in the state house of representatives from 1873 until 1876. He then served in the state senate from 1876 until 1881, and he was Texas’s lieutenant governor from 1881 until 1883. In the late 1890s, he served as a state railroad commissioner. He died in Austin, Texas, on March 28, 1909.

 

Image: Leonidas J. Storey (courtesy Wikicommons)

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