Missouri Hennegar Whaley (1836-1904)

Portrait courtesy of the Legislative Reference Library of Texas.

  An obscure resident of Montague County, Texas, Missouri Hennegar Whaley represented that county for one term in his state's House of Representatives. A native of Tennessee, Whaley was born in Rhea County on February 28, 1836, one of thirteen children born to John and Mary Airhart Whaley.

  A student at the Clinton Academy and the Strawberry Plains College in his native state, Whaley decided upon a law career and in 1854 began study under Judge Frank Locke. Four years later he moved to Texas, and after settling in Cooke County was selected as deputy district clerk. He continued reading law during this period and was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1860. At the dawn of the Civil War Whaley cast his lot with the Confederacy and enlisted in Co. B., Eleventh Texas Calvary, with which he served until the war's conclusion. Whaley married in 1861 to Jane Puryear (1841-1918), to whom he was wed until his death. The couple had ten children, Flora Helen, Theodore Ewin, Joe Wheeler, Richard Holder, John Brent, Sallie Florence, Maggie Lea, Cora Belle, James Edgar, and Rufus Edgar.

   Following his military service Whaley was elected as clerk of the district court of Cook County, and in the early 1870s "erected the first steam saw and grist mill in Cook County" with which he was affiliated for several years. In 1878 he and his family moved to Montague County, and in the succeeding years became a leading business figure in the county, being involved in the flour mill and lumber business.

  Described as a "believer in prohibition and a Democrat without reproach", Whaley's highest degree of political prominence came in 1884 when he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives. Serving in the 1885-87 session, he was remarked as one of the "ablest members of the house" and sat on the committees on Agriculture, Finance, and the Public Land Office.

  After leaving the legislature Whaley served two terms as county collector of taxes and two years before his death moved to the town of Calvin in Red River County. He died there on June 10, 1904, aged 67, and was later returned to Montague County for burial at the Mountain View Cemetery.

From the Fort Worth Record and Register, June 14, 1904.