Galveston Historic Overnights: Governor Lubbock's House
Built in 1876 by Francis Lubbock.
This property's claim to fame is that it was built by and briefly the residence of former Texas Gov. Francis R. Lubbock, and later, the home of prominent shipping agent, J. Henry Langbehn.
Parts of the owner biographies below have been researched and written by Jami Durham, historian at the Galveston Historical Foundation.
About the Original Owners
Francis R. Lubbock was born on October 16, 1815 in Beaufort, South Carolina. After his father died, when Lubbock was just 14, he left school and began working as a clerk in a hardware store. He continued his interest in business in New Orleans, then Texas, where he opened a general store in Houston in 1836. He married his first of three wives, Adele Baron of New Orleans, in 1835 and remained with her until her death in 1882.
A lifelong Democrat, Lubbock served as the comptroller of the Republic of Texas, appointed by President Sam Houston, as well as the elected clerk of the Harris County district court. In 1857, he was elected lieutenant governor but lost his reelection in the 1859 race to Sam Houston and Edward Clark. Lubbock was elected governor of Texas in 1861, a race he won by only 124 votes.
As governor during the Civil War, Lubbock was a supporter of Confederate conscription and opposed draft exemptions for able-bodied men as unfairly advantageous to the wealthy (read more on this below).
After his term ended in 1863, he joined the Confederate Army. He served as assistant adjutant general to Maj. Gen. John Bankhead Magruder, then Maj. Gen. John A. Wharton, with whom he helped to raise Texas troops for the Red River War campaigns. In 1878, he was elected Treasurer of the State of Texas. Lubbock died in 1905. Even later, in 1878, he was elected state treasurer of Texas. Lubbock died in 1905. (Source: Texas State Historical Association)
During the Civil War
As governor of Texas during the Civil War, Lubbock was a staunch supporter of the Confederacy. According to the Handbook of Texas Online:
"Lubbock vigorously supported Confederate conscription, opposing draft exemptions for able-bodied men as unfair and the substitution system as advantageous to the wealthy. Viewing the use of Whites in government contracting and cattle driving as wasteful, he encouraged their replacement with slaves to increase enlistment. Aliens residing in Texas were also made subject to the draft. Lubbock exempted frontier counties from the Confederate draft and enlisted their residents for local defense against Indian attack."
Later Owners
J. Henry Langbehn, owner of Langbehn Brothers, sail and steamship agents, purchased both properties on this lot from Francis Lubbock in 1901, and used both as rental properties during his tenure as owner. As a prominent businessman and Galvestonian, Langbehn's lengthy resume included his services as the consul to Japan and president of the Galveston Waste Mills, Seaboard Lumber & Milling Company, Galveston Business League, and Galveston Investment Company. He was also the first vice president of the chamber of commerce and was secretary of the Industrial Development Board and the Seaboard Fire & Marine Insurance Company.
Changes to the House
Though the lot this property exists on was initially owned by wholesale grocer, Theodore Bonapart Stubbs, after the Civil War Stubbs fell upon hard times and sold his lots to Francis Richard Lubbock in 1870 for $2000.
The house was constructed by Lubbock around 1876, and the Galveston City Directory records Lubbock’s residence here from 1877 to 1878. However, when Lubbock was elected state treasurer, he promptly moved back to Austin with Adele and kept this property as a rental until it was sold in 1901.
The 1899 insurance record for this property notes a two-story frame building with a shingle and metal roof containing six rooms, three halls, and two porches. Accessory structures included a “wood house” and a water closet/outhouse. (Two bathrooms were added at a later time.) The property also included a wood cistern to capture rain water and fencing on the south 70 feet of the lot. Notes on the record indicate the property was repaired or painted in 1896, 1900, 1903 and 1922. The record notes two additions: a one-story addition already in place when the 1899 record was filled out and a second addition, on the rear, in 1915.