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 Royall
T. Wheeler (1857-1860)
Member of the
First Texas Supreme Court, later Chief Justice; Professor of Law.
Royall T. Wheeler
served as the first head of the law department at Baylor University
when it was formally established on June 15, 1857. He served
in that position until February 9, 1860.
Wheeler was born in
Vermont in 1810. After being raised in Ohio, he began
practicing law in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in 1837. In 1839, he
married and moved to Nacogdoches, Texas, where he established a law
partnership.
Wheeler was
appointed district attorney for the 5th Judicial District in 1842
and in 1844 became district judge and a member of the Supreme Court
of the Republic of Texas, then composed of district judges sitting
en banc.
After the
annexation of Texas in 1845 he was appointed associate justice of
the state Supreme Court and was elected to the same position in
1851, becoming Chief Justice in 1857 and serving until his death in
1864.
Wheeler began to
teach at Baylor as one of the professors of law when the department
opened in 1857. Two law classes graduated under him, where his
title was Law Professor and Head of Law Department.
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