Governor Campbell

 
Thomas Mitchell Campbell of Palestine, who became governor of Texas, was born April 22, 1856, at Rusk, son of Thomas Duncan and Rachel Moore Campbell.

After attending public schools, he began working in the county clerk's office at Longview to earn money to attend Rusk Masonic Institute and later Trinity University.

He was admitted to the bar in 1878 and on Dec. 24, that year, married Fannie I. Bruner at Shreveport, La. They became the parents of five children.

Appointed receiver for the I-GN Railroad in 1891, Campbell moved to Palestine. In 1893 he became general manager of the railroad, resigning in 1897 to resume law practice.

With the backing of James Stephen Hogg and Joseph Weldon Bailey, Campbell ran for governor in 1908. He was elected and was re-elected in 1908.

His administration passed a pure food law, strengthened the anti-trust laws, tried to regulate lobbying, increased taxation for local schools.

 

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