Freestone County, Texas Biographies Biography of Thomas M. Simpson, Jr. (July 16, 1886-?, burial unknown) A History of Texas and Texans, Volume III by Frank W. Johnson Editor: Eugenne C. Barker, Ph.D. The American Historical Society, Chicago and New York, 1914 [Page 1525] THOMAS M. SIMPSON, JR. A rising young lawyer of Dallas, Thomas M. Simpson, Jr., was born in Houston, Texas, July 16, 1886, a son of Thomas Moore Simpson, and is of honored ancestry on both sides of the house. His paternal grandfather, Judge James J. Simpson, was one of the distinguished lawyers of the early days of Texas. He belonged to a family of much prominence, having been a son of General Jonathan A. Simpson of Kentucky, in whose honor Simpson county, that state, was named. Educated for the legal profession, Judge Simpson was admitted to the bar in Bardstown, Kentucky, and as a young man went to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he was for a time engaged in the practice of law. Coming from there to Marshall, Texas, in 1845, he continued his professional labors in that historic East Texas town for awhile, and later settled at Indianola, Texas, where he resided until his death, in 1854, at an early age. Judge Simpson married Elizabeth Geils Dillard, who was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, of distinguished ancestry, and died in Texas, at an advanced age, in 1905. After the death of her husband, in 1854, she took her family to Fort Smith, Arkansas, to live with her mother, Mrs. Sallie P. Dillard, a pioneer resident of that city. There Mrs. Simpson subsequently married R. S. Rosser, a brother of General Thomas D. Rosser, who gained distinction as an officer in Stewart's Cavalry in Virginia during the Civil war. Soon after the breaking out of the war Mr. and Mrs. Rosser located in Anderson county, Texas, near Palestine, and, upon appointment by the Confederate government, established an extensive supply station and industrial works to manufacture and furnish to the Confederate armies all kinds of supplies, such as clothing, shoes, hats and especially all kinds of accoutrements made from leather. He conducted an extensive yard and made shoes at the rate of five thousand pairs a month. A native son of Texas, Thomas Moore Simpson was born, in 1852, at Marshall, Harrison county, but was bred and educated in Anderson county, where his mother lived after her marriage to Mr. Rosser. He was educated at Woodlawn, Freestone county, and at the old Trinity University in Tehuacana, being well prepared for the profession of civil engineering which he followed for many years. He held positions of importance having been construction engineer for railroads from the Dakotas as far south as the lower Central American states, and was engaged on enterprises in both British and Spanish Honduras. His life during that period, if written, would read like a romance having been filled not only with adventure, but with events of international importance. He has lived at Dallas, his present home, more or less, ever since 1872, being a highly esteemed citizen. He married, in New Orleans, Louisana, Elizabeth Magnon, who was of excellent French ancestry, and to them eight children have been born, namely: Thomas M., Dillard R., Jacques M., Clemence E., Roger L., Felix, Mildred and Edward McGregor Simpson. The late Colonel James Bates Simpson, who died at Dallas, Texas, in January, 1905, was a brother of Thomas Moore Simpson, and an uncle of Thomas M. Simpson, Jr. A man of great wealth and prominence, he was a lawyer of distinction, a man of the finest intellectual equipment, a forceful writer and speaker, and in addition was a strong business man, controlling large and important commerical industrial affairs. Serving in the Confederate army throughout the Civil war, he distinguished himself at the battle of Corinth, where he was wounded while fighting on the breastworks. He entered the legal profession while a very young man, beginning his profession at Galveston, and was soon after admitted to practice in the United States Supreme Court. Subsequently locating at Liberty, the county seat of Liberty county, he there became district attorney and was also elected and served as a member of the Legislature. In 1873 he came to Dallas, which remained his home and the center of his activities until his death. Colonel Simpson established and controlled several wholesale establishments handling various lines of merchandise, and at one time was owner and editor of the Times-Herald, Dallas' evening newspaper. He accumulated a large fortune, estimated at considerably over a million dollars, the bulk of which, however, was unfortunately swept away by the panics of 1887 and 1893. Thomas M. Simpson, Jr., was brought up and educated in Dallas, attending the public schools. AS a first as assistant city ticket agent for the Texas and Pacific Railway and later as depot ticket agent for the same company at the city passenger depot. Subsequently studying law with Judge M. M. Parks, Mr. Simpson was admitted to the bar in 1912, and since that time he has been busily engaged in the practice of his profession in Dallas, confining himself to civil practice only. Fraternally Mr. Simpson is a member of the Knights of Pythias, of the Knights of the Maccabees, of the Modern Woodmen of America, of the Order of Moose and of the Pretorians.