Beauford Halbert Jester (1893 - 1949)

Born 12 Jan 1893 in Corsicana, Navarro, Texas

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 11 Jul 1949 at age 56 in Harris, Texas

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Greg Wood [send private message], Lynette Jester [send private message], and Texas Project WikiTree [send private message]

Preceded by 35th Governor Coke R. Stevenson

Beauford H. Jester 36th Governor of Texas 1947—1949

Succeeded by 37th Governor Allan Shivers

Biography

Beauford Jester is a part of Texas history. Join: Texas Project Discuss: texas

Beauford Jester is Notable.

Beauford was born in 1893. Beauford was the child of George Taylor Jester and Fannie Gordon. Beauford passed away in 1949.

As governor, he made history by being the first governor to be elected after his father had served as Lt. Gov. and he was the first to die in office. He was the 36th Governor of Texas

He was commissioned as captain, he commanded Company D, 357th Infantry, Ninetieth Division, in action at St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, and served with the American Army of Occupation in Germany in WWI.

Member of American Legion; Veterans of Foreign Wars; Sons of the American Revolution (John McKinney); Kappa Sigma; Sigma Delta Chi; Freemasons; Shriners; Elks; Rotary; Lions

He was the youngest person to Chair the University of Texas Board of Regents from 1929 to 1935 and from 1933 to 1935.

As the the Fifty-first Legislature, which met from January 11 to June 6, 1949 the longest running session, legislature was passed the first state appropriations bill of over $1 billion, providing funds for prison improvements, for educational reform under the Gilmer-Aikin Laws, for rural-road and state-park expansion, for a youth development council, and for a separate Board for Texas State Hospitals and Special Schools.

Although Jester opposed President Harry Truman's national civil-rights program, he supported state civil-rights legislation, including an antilynching law and a proposed constitutional amendment to repeal the poll tax. He lobbied for higher teachers' salaries and statewide college and university building programs, including the establishment of a major university for African Americans, namely Jester Hall. Everything he could do, but give African Americans the right to vote in Texas. If he had, instead of this happening in the 1960s under President Johnson, when Johnson said, "we have lost the south for a generation" That generation would be nearly over by now.

The Jester Prison Farm was featured in the Goldie Hawn movie, Sugarland Express.

Beauford's grandson married a Princess of Iran, a neice to the late disposed Shah, in a Private Ceremony in Rome in 1976. Other then that mention, since they are still living, that part is private.

"United States Census, 1900," Corsicana city Ward 2, 4, Navarro, Texas^[1]

George T Jester Head Male 52 Illinois

Fannie Jester Wife Female 38 Mississippi

Claude W Jester Son Male 27 Texas

Charles G Jester Son Male 18 Texas

Buford Jester Son Male 7 Texas

George T Jester Jr. Son Male 5 Texas

"United States Census, 1910," Corsicana Ward 4, Navarro, Texas^[2]

George T Jester Head Male 61 Illinois

Fannie G Jester Wife Female 48 Mississippi

Charles E Jester Son Male 27 Texas

Beauford Jester Son Male 17 Texas

George T Jester Jr. Son Male 14 Texas

Walker Spillman Servant Male 55 Alabama

"United States Census, 1920," Corsicana Ward 4, Navarro, Texas^[3]

George T Jester Head Male 71 Illinois

Frances G Jester Wife Female 57 Mississippi

Charles G Jester Son Male 37 Texas

Marian D Jester Daughter-in-law Female 26 Texas

Beauford H Jester Son Male 26 Texas

Lula Moseley Servant Female 43 Texas

Herman Blocker Servant Male 24 Texas

"United States Census, 1930," Corsicana, Precinct 1 Ward 4, Navarro, Texas^[4]

Beauford Jester Head Male 37 Texas

Mabel Jester Wife Female 29 Arkansas

Barbara Jester Daughter Female 5 Texas

Joan Jester Daughter Female 0 Texas

Mollie Johnson Servant Female 30 Texas

Evis Beck Servant Male 26 Texas

"United States Census, 1940," Corsicana, Justice Precinct 1, Navarro, Texas^[5]

Beauford H Jester Head Male 47 Texas

Mabel B Jester Wife Female 38 Arkansas

Barbara B Jester Daughter Female 15 Texas

Joan Jester Daughter Female 10 Texas

Beauford H Jester Son Male 1 Texas

Sources

1. ↑ FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3P5-FSV : accessed 31 March 2019), Buford Jester in household of George T Jester, Corsicana city Ward 2, 4, Navarro, Texas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 98, sheet 18B, family 402, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,661.
2. ↑ FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M23R-B12 : accessed 31 March 2019), Beauford Jester in household of George T Jester, Corsicana Ward 4, Navarro, Texas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 86, sheet 5B, family 95, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1580; FHL microfilm 1,375,593.
3. ↑ FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MH1Q-HFS : accessed 31 March 2019), Beauford H Jester in household of George T Jester, Corsicana Ward 4, Navarro, Texas, United States; citing ED 150, sheet 10A, line 22, family 4, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 1836; FHL microfilm 1,821,836.
4. ↑ FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HFPM-72M : accessed 31 March 2019), Beauford Jester, Corsicana, Navarro, Texas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 6, sheet 19A, line 5, family 472, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 2379; FHL microfilm 2,342,113.
5. ↑ FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K4SN-2Q2 : 14 March 2018), Joan Jester in household of Beauford H Jester, Ward 3, Corsicana, Justice Precinct 1, Navarro, Texas, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 175-6, sheet 18B, line 58, family 468, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 4112.

• Deep in the Heart by J. Garner Phillips a History of the descendants of Levi Jester and Diadima McKinney.
• Beauford Halbert Jester on Wikipedia
• Tommy W. Stringer, "JESTER, BEAUFORD HALBERT," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fje08), accessed September 27, 2015. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
• Beauford Halbert Jester on The Political Graveyard Please note, TPG has Beauford Halbert Jester as 2nd cousin from Perry Nothen Jester son of John Roberts Jester . This is Unproven! Over 35 years of research, and as many, if not more, researchers working on this family and we have hints, possibilities, probabilities and nothing definite. This is not one that has even triggered my wild speculations.
• Find A Grave Memorial# 18084

Oakwood Cemetery

Corsicana, Navarro, Texas, USA

Plot: End Of Row With Flag Pole, 19th St Entrance

GPS (lat/lon): 32.05991, -96.28886

• Governor Beauford H. Jester