Biography of Hardin R Runnels, Bowie County, Texas *********************************************************** Submitted by: V Richardson Date: Jun 2000 Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tx/bowie/bowitoc.htm *********************************************************** RUNNELS, Hardin R, governor of Texas, was born in Mississippi. In 1841 he removed to Bowie county, Texas, where he started a cotton plantation. He represented his county in the state legislature, 1847–55, being speaker of the house, 1853–54; was re-elected to the legislature in 1855, and owing to a strong Know-nothing agitation, was on short notice elected lieutenant-governor in the same year. He declined his seat in the legislature, served as lieutenant-governor, and in 1857 defeated Sam Houston for the governorship by a large majority. He was defeated by General Houston in 1859, and served in the secession convention of 1861 and the constitutional convention of 1866. He died in Bowie county, Texas, in 1873.