James Winfield Crayton, Jr.: Life and Legacy of a Texas State Representative (1861–1913)

James Winfield Crayton, Jr., state representative and newspaper publisher, son of James Walter Crayton and Permelia E. (Thomason) Crayton, was born on December 4, 1861, in Itawamba County, Mississippi. He lived in Mississippi until about 1872, when the Crayton family moved to Rockwall County, Texas. His father purchased a farm and engaged in agricultural work. In 1881 Crayton enrolled in Waco University (later merged with Baylor University) and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in 1885. After graduating he worked as a teacher for two years while he studied law and managed his farm. His father died in 1887.

In 1888 Crayton sought a seat as representative for Texas House District 35, a floterial district composed of Dallas, Tarrant, and Rockwall counties. Crayton was said to be a passionate Democrat and ran on the Democratic ticket. He was endorsed by the Democratic conventions of all three counties. Crayton’s opponent in the general election was James M. Haney, a candidate of the Union Labor party, a short-lived third party that supported workers’ rights and opposed monopolies. Crayton was successful and earned a seat in the Twenty-first Texas Legislature. His first term came during a period of economic improvement and relative political harmony under Governor Sul Ross. In this term Crayton served as a member of five House committees, those on Counties and County Boundaries, Education, Enrolled Bills, Revenue and Taxation, and State Affairs. Crayton authored nine bills during his first term, two of which passed. Both were related to the Department of Agriculture, Insurance, Statistics, and History (see TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE). H.B. 111, which was combined with H.B.s 143, 173, and 180, to revise the language of the 1887 law creating the Bureau of Agriculture, and H.B. 208, to create a penalty for state and county officers who failed to provide information requested by the Commissioner of Agriculture, Insurance, Statistics, and History. After the legislative session concluded, Crayton became editor for the Royse City Alta.

Crayton ran for reelection in 1890. He was renominated by the Democratic conventions in Rockwall and Dallas counties, although the Tarrant County convention selected Frank Ball of Fort Worth, who declined the nomination. Crayton was elected as a representative for the Twenty-second Texas Legislature, under the administration of Governor James Stephen Hogg. Prior to the start of the new legislature, on December 16, 1890, Crayton married Cora Horn in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana.

During the regular session Crayton was a member of the House committees on Education, Enrolled Bills, Finance, Internal Improvements, and Rules; a member of the Printing of Daily House and Senate Journals Joint Committee; and chair of the House Committee on County Government and County Finances. Crayton introduced eight bills. Most were relatively minor procedural bills, and none were passed into law. The most notable legislation that he introduced was H. B. 46, which was to require railway companies to provide separate coaches “equal in point of comfort” for White and Black passengers. It was one of five bills introduced in the House of Representatives that session to effect the segregation of railcars. A Senate bill with the same purpose passed both houses and was signed into law.

Crayton served through the regular session before resigning in May 1891 to accept his appointment as the chief clerk of the Department of Agriculture, Insurance, Statistics, and History. His legislative seat was filled by William L. Crawford of Dallas. In July 1891, after only two months, Crayton resigned as the chief clerk to pursue a career in the newspaper business. In 1891 he purchased a half-interest in the Austin Globe. The following year he acquired the Farmersville Times, which he managed and edited until 1902. About 1903 he relocated to Abilene, Texas, where he was an editor for the Taylor County News. In 1908 Crayton became the first editor of the News’s sister paper, the Abilene Morning News. The following year, he and Jesse Martin Adams became co-owners of the parent company. In 1912 Crayton sold his interests and retired from the newspaper business. That year he was elected a Taylor County justice of the peace.

Crayton, a proponent of free silver, remained active in the Democratic party. He was a member of the Democratic Executive Committee of Taylor County and was nominated as a delegate to the state Democratic conventions in 1906 and 1908. Crayton was active in the Texas Press Association and an organizer of the Central West Texas Press Association. He served as president of the West Texas Log Rolling Association, an order of the Woodmen of the World. He was a member of Abilene’s 25,000 Club, the Baptist Church, the Farmers’ Alliance, and the Knights of Pythias.

On March 28, 1913, James W. Crayton, Jr., died at the age of fifty-one from what his obituary termed “complicated throat troubles.” He was buried in the Abilene Municipal Cemetery. He was described by the Abilene Semi-Weekly Reporter as “a valuable citizen…a worthy official and good man,” who “possessed many noble qualities.”