25Judge Devine was born of Irish parentage in Halifax, N. S., February
28, 1820. The family moved to Florida in 1835 and later to Mississippi.
He studied law in Transylvania University in Kentucky. Moving to Texas
in 1843 he made his home first at La Grange, where he was admitted to the
bar a few days after his arrival. He remained in La Grange for some
three years and then moved to San Antonio. He became district judge in
San Antonio in 1851 and was re-elected in 1856. An ardent secessionist,
he was one of the leading members of the Secession Convention of Texas
and was a member of the Committee of Public Safety appointed to confer
with General Twiggs regarding the surrender of United States property in
Texas. Following the war he lived in Mexico for a time. Upon his return
to San Antonio he was arrested by Federal troops and imprisoned at Fort
Jackson at the mouth of the Mississippi River for a period of four months.
He was then released without trial, whereupon he returned to his home
and the practice of law. He was appointed to membership on the Supreme
Court of Texas in 1875 and served on that tribunal for two years. He
then resigned from the court and again returned to San Antonio, where
he maintained his law practice until his death in 1890.--John Henry
Brown, Indian
Wars
and
Pioneers
of
Texas,
220-221.
