Grandison Royston's original log home is preserved at Historic Washington State Park.
Anyone who’s spent any time out at Historic Washington has probably heard about Grandison Royston. He was a fairly prominent figure in the political scene of early Arkansas, though not a native Arkansan himself.
Royston hailed from Carter County, Tennessee, originally. Born in December of 1809, Royston attended a “subscription school” or private school in his youth. These schools were seen mainly in rural areas of the country, as public schools hadn’t yet taken root in America. These subscription schools were paid for by parents, who paid only for the number of days their student would attend. This helped rural families get their children an education during the parts of the year that they weren’t needed on the family farm.
As Royston got older, he transferred to the Presbyterian Academy in Washington County, Tennessee, continuing his education until, at the age of 20, Royston decided to pursue a career as a lawyer. He studied under a local judge for almost two years before being admitted to the Tennessee bar in December of 1831.
A few months later, in April of 1832, Royston traded one Washington County for another. He left Appalachia and settled in Fayetteville, Arkansas, starting a law practice there before teaching for a short time. It would only be a few months before Royston pulled up stakes and headed south for Washington, Arkansas, arriving at a time that saw the Choctaw heading through the area on their way to Indian Territory.
In 1833, Royston was made prosecuting attorney. He performed his new duties in his circuit while still running his own practice. During that time, Royston became engaged to Clarissa Bates of Herculaneum, Missouri. Royston and Bates would marry on January 1, 1835, less than a month after Royston’s 25th birthday. Bates, who was 15 at the time, moved from her family home into Royston’s Washington, Arkansas, abode.
While the almost 10-year age difference may seem abnormal by today’s standards, in the early 19th century, it was not uncommon for young women to marry established older men. Royston, having already become an established lawyer as well as prosecuting attorney, was seen by Bates and her family as a good match. There is also a stark contrast between what we consider adulthood and what those living in the mid-1800s considered “marriable age.” By their teenage years, young men were expected to be finding their career and young women were expected to find a suitable man to marry and begin raising children. In an age where the average life expectancy was about 47 years, a match like Royston and Bates would have been fairly common.
A few months after the wedding, Royston was elected as a delegate to Arkansas’ first constitutional convention. A year later, he would almost become U.S. District Attorney under Andrew Jackson’s administration, but a legislative vote he had cast in opposition to the president would be enough to deny his confirmation.
Almost a year later, just shy of Royston’s 28th birthday, Arkansas’ first meeting of the General Assembly would be held on December 4, 1837. During the meeting, Royston would become involved in an altercation between Speaker of the House John Wilson and Representative Joseph Anthony. The two men, from Clark County and Randolph County, respectively, would have their actions at the assembly become a well-known tale in Arkansas history.
Anthony, an interesting figure in his own right, was almost 60 years old at the time of the General Assembly. He was originally from Virginia, and had served in the War of 1812, and had been an Indian fighter in Alabama. He is said to have stood over six feet tall and weighed almost 200 pounds, marking him as incredibly tall and powerfully built by the standards of the time. He was also known to be quick-witted and jested about matters of state, sometimes to the detriment of others.
Wilson, who was serving as Speaker of the House, was also the newly elected president of the Arkansas Real Estate Bank, which was known to be a source of political corruption and conflict, as the state had no supervision over the bank, despite having issued $2 million in bonds under the bank’s charter. Anthony had written a resolution attacking the bank, and jested about it again at the assembly.
The General Assembly was called by Governor James Conway, as the state predicted a tax surplus. During a debate over a bill about payment for a bounty on wolf scalps, Anthony remarked that perhaps the president of the Real Estate Bank ought to verify where the scalps were derived, alluding to the bank’s perceived predatory practices.
This angered Wilson, who got into a fierce exchange of words with Anthony before drawing a Bowie knife and charging at him. Royston, on the sidelines of the altercation, tried to separate the two by throwing a chair between them, but to no avail. Anthony drew his own Bowie knife in an attempt to defend himself from Wilson’s attack, but Wilson struck true, stabbing Anthony through the heart. Wilson was expelled from the assembly, and was eventually put on trial for murder. That, however, is a story for another article.
After Wilson’s expulsion, Royston was elected Speaker of the House. A few years later, during the mid-1840s, Royston became a brigadier general with the state militia under the administration of Thomas Drew, Arkansas’ third governor.
In 1856, Royston would become an Arkansas senator, serving Hempstead, Lafayette, and Pike counties. Shortly thereafter, in 1861 at the age of 52, Royston was elected to the Confederate Congress in Richmond, Virginia. Reports state that Royston, like many of his contemporaries, was a staunch Democrat who supported slavery and opposed secession for the southern states. After the war in 1865, Royston would receive a postwar pardon from President Andrew Johnson and would go on to serve as governor of Arkansas. He would also become the state’s first cabinet member under President Grover Cleveland.
In 1874, at almost 65 years old, Royston presided over the constitutional convention in Little Rock. This marked him as the only member to serve at both the original constitutional convention of 1836 and the convention of 1874. In his later years, Royston would also serve as a delegate to the Democratic national convention and on the University of Arkansas Board of Governors.
Royston died at the age of 79 on August 14, 1889. He is buried at Historic Washington, where his home still stands after it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
The second home Royston and his wife resided in was built behind the tavern near the courthouse in Washington, Arkansas. It is famous for the large magnolia tree in the front yard.
