Governor of Texas. Born near Rusk, Cherokee County, Texas, he was the first native born Texan to become governor. Orphaned by 1863, he had little money and had to go to work before getting more than a basic education. After the Civil War, he went to school in Alabama. After returning to Texas, he worked as a typesetter in a newspaper office at Rusk where he perfected his spelling, improved his vocabulary, and was stimulated by the prose and poetry contributions of his brother who was studying law. He was a typesetter for the "Rusk Chronicle", later ran the "Longview News" and founded the "Quitman News". He was admitted (1875) to the Texas bar, and was Wood County's county attorney (1879 to 1881), district attorney (1881 to 1885), and state attorney general (1887 to 1891). Hogg suffered his only political defeat in 1876 when he ran for a seat in the Texas legislature. Hogg won election as 20th Governor of Texas in 1890, serving in this capacity from 1891 to 1895. During his second term, his administration endorsed three constitutional amendments. Voters defeated the proposals to charter state banks and to provide a pension for indigent Confederate veterans, but approved the amendment to allow for public election of the railroad commissioners. At his urging, the legislature passed a law allowing the Railroad Commission to fix rates based on fair valuation and to stop many of the practices the railroad companies had used to manipulate stocks. In 1895 he retired from political life to practice law, first in Austin, and finally in Houston. Although he was not wealthy when he left office, through his connections he became involved in land and oil deals and amassed a large fortune. In January 1905 Hogg was injured in a railroad accident while on a business trip. He never completely recovered, and died in his sleep in the home of his law partner, Frank Jones, at Houston at the age of fifty-four. He was buried in Austin.