David Catchings Dickson

David Catchings Dickson (February 25, 1818 – June 5, 1880) was an American politician and medical doctor in early Texas who served as the ninth speaker of the Texas House of Representatives from 1851 to 1853 and as the fourth lieutenant governor of Texas from 1853 to 1855. He was also a State Senator and unsuccessfully ran for governor of Texas.

Biography Dickson was born in Pike County, Mississippi. In 1830, Dickson's family moved to Georgetown, Copiah County, Mississippi, where he married Sophronia L. Magee. Dickson attended medical school in Lexington, Kentucky, and after graduating in 1841, moved, as part of a large group, to the Montgomery County, Texas, community of Anderson (present-day Grimes County). Dickson served as a surgeon for the Army of the Republic of Texas. He served as a Justice of the Peace for Montgomery County beginning in 1845.

Sometime before 1850, Dickson had remarried, to the former Nancy Ann E. Magee.

Dickson served in the House of Representatives in the First, Third, and Fourth Texas Legislatures. In the Fourth Legislature, Dickson was elected Speaker of the House, defeating fellow representative Hardin Richard Runnels 30 votes to 27 on the tenth ballot.

In his acceptance speech, Dickson promised to work on eliminating debts incurred by the Republic of Texas and passed on to the state.

After the war, he was appointed financial agent of the State Penitentiary in Huntsville by Governor James Webb Throckmorton and served in that capacity from 1866 to 1867. During his time in Huntsville, Dickson attended to the inmates when a yellow fever outbreak occurred.

Dickson died on June 5, 1880, in Grimes County, Texas, and is buried near his home in Anderson. Dickson was a Mason.