Chief Justice John Edward Hickman

(1883-1962) A distinguished chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court, and a native of Williamson County. Descendant of 1849 settlers from Alabama, he was a son of Nathaniel Franklin and Mary J. Porterfield Hickman. He attended the Liberty Hill Normal and Commercial College, and (with interruptions to teach school) earned a law degree at the University of Texas in 1910. For 16 years he was an attorney in Dublin (Erath County) and Breckenridge (Stephens County). Oil was discovered in both areas, and with boom conditions his practice included some historic cases. Elected Associate Justice (1926), he became in 1928 Chief Justice, Court of Civil Appeals, Eastland. He was appointed to the Supreme Court Commission of Appeals in 1935; became an associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court in 1945; and on Jan. 7, 1948, was appointed Chief Justice -- a post he filled until 1961. He is credited with 433 opinions of the Texas Supreme Court. A devout Christian, he taught a Bible class about 50 years, and served 1921-62 as a trustee of Southern Methodist University. He married (1) Ethel Markward (d. 1921) and (2) Lena Pettit, who survived him. (1971)

Chief Justice John Edward Hickman is a historical marker in Georgetown, Williamson County, dedicated in 1971. It is one of 237 historical markers documented in Williamson County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 430 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 30.6372, -97.6779 near Georgetown. The nearest cataloged historic site is Judge Greenleaf Fisk (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include In Memory of Robert Jones Rivers, David Love Store, and M.B. Lockett Building.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5507013898. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.