HALL, MONTREVILLE JEFFERSON (1819–1871). Montreville Jefferson Hall, lawyer and legislator, was born on April 3, 1819, in Alabama, son of William and Emily Hall. He studied law at the University of Virginia and moved to Harrison County, Texas, in 1844. On July 10, 1845, he married Mary Ann Robertson of Marshall. Around this time Hall contracted with builder W. R. D. Ward to construct Edgemont, a Greek Revival home that still stands in Harrison County about three miles west of Marshall.
A well-known lawyer and community leader and a wealthy planter with a number of slaves, Hall was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1853. The people of Harrison County elected him to represent them at the Secession Convention held in Austin in January 1861, and he voted to secede from the United States. During the Civil War he spent time as a colonel in the Confederate Army and also served as the assistant treasurer for the Confederacy in Texas.
Although he was not elected to public office after the Civil War, Hall remained active in politics. His lavish home, Edgemont, was the scene of many meetings of conservative local leaders during Reconstruction, and he was a prominent advocate for restoring control of the county to the pre-war elite. Hall died in Harrison County on May 11, 1871.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: IGI Individual Record, "Montreville Jefferson Hall" (http://www.familysearch.org/), accessed August 28, 2006. "Ordinance of Secession of Texas" (http://www.csawardept.com/), accessed August 28, 2006. Harrison County, "Historical Markers and Landmarks-Homes" (http://txgenes.com/TXHarrison/), accessed August 28, 2006.
