Simmons, James Wright

SIMMONS, JAMES WRIGHT (ca. 1790–ca. 1858). James Wright Simmons, poet and government official, was born in Charleston, South Carolina, about 1790 and was educated at Harvard University. He traveled in Europe for some time and upon his return was coeditor of the Southern Literary Gazette with William Gilmore Simms in Charleston from September 1828 through March 1829. Simmons was a brother of Cleveland K. Simmons, who died at the Alamo, and was a cousin of Hamilton P. Bee. Simmons was comptroller of the Republic of Texas from 1839 to 1840. He was appointed treasurer in 1840 and served until he left for the United States in November 1841. In August 1846 Sam Houston helped write a letter recommending Simmons as Naval Storekeeper of Texas in Galveston, but apparently sent another correspondence on December 25, 1848, in reference to Simmons's removal from office. Simmons contributed to newspapers and magazines and was associated with the Galveston Banner. He may be the same James W. Simmons of South Carolina listed in the 1850 census, living in Galveston County, with a wife, Louisa, and four children. His age, however, was listed as forty-three years. Simmons published at least three volumes of poetry: The Maniac's Confession (1821), Bluebeard; or, The Marshall of France (1821), and The Greek Girl (1852).

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Charles Adams Gulick, Jr., Harriet Smither, et al., eds., The Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar (6 vols., Austin: Texas State Library, 1920–27; rpt., Austin: Pemberton Press, 1968). Library of Southern Literature (16 vols., Atlanta: Martin and Hoyt, 1909–13). Frank Luther Mott, A History of American Magazines (5 vols., Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1930–68). George Armstrong Wauchope, Writers of South Carolina (Columbia, South Carolina: State, 1910). Amelia W. Williams and Eugene C. Barker, eds., The Writings of Sam Houston, 1813–1863 (8 vols., Austin: University of Texas Press, 1938–43; rpt., Austin and New York: Pemberton Press, 1970). E. W. Winkler, ed., Secret Journals of the Senate, Republic of Texas (Austin, 1911).

Citation

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.

William E. Bard, "ADAMS, WALTER R.," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fad08), accessed March 19, 2015. Uploaded on June 9, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.