Bagley, Nathan Green (1821–1885)

Nathan Green Bagley, Texas legislator and lawyer, was born on February 25, 1821, in Talladega, Alabama, to James Richard Webster and Elizabeth (Petty) Bagley. Bagley studied law in Alabama and, upon moving to Texas with his family in 1849, began to practice in Henderson, Texas. In 1852 Bagley built a house at 115 South Marshall Street in Henderson; it was only the second brick dwelling in Henderson and still stands in its original location. Nathan married twice, first to Flora A. Brown in 1855, and later to Sarah W. Stanley. N. G. Bagley had no children with either wife, but raised his brother Elisha's daughter, Matilda Lula Bagley, as a stepdaughter. Bagley was a member of the Ninth Texas Legislature. In the spring of 1863 Bagley and his two brothers volunteered for service in the Confederate forces. Following the war Bagley returned to Rusk County and his law practice. In 1870 Bagley was peripherally involved in a contentious Reconstruction congressional election. According to a source of a local historian, Nathan Bagley threatened a Republican party leader with a knife, supposedly in an attempt to quiet a boisterous crowd. Bagley was on the executive board of Rusk County's first railroad, the Henderson and Overton Branch Railroad. N. G. Bagley was a committed Mason and attended Clinton Lodge #23. Bagley died on September 22, 1885, and is buried with his wives and stepdaughter in Henderson City Cemetery.