William Franklin Ramsey (October 25, 1855 – October 27, 1922) was an American attorney, banker, and justice of the Texas Supreme Court from January 1911 to April 1912.
Ramsey entered the practice of law in 1877, maintaining a law practice in Cleburne from 1877 to 1909.[2] Developing an interest in banking, he served as an officer and director of the Cleburne National Bank; he also became a stockholder in other banking institutions.[3] Between 1900 and 1908, he was serving as president of three separate banks—the Cleburne National Bank, the First National Bank at Covington, Texas, and the Farmer and Trader's Bank at Rio Vista, Texas.[1][2]
Judicial and political career
In 1907, Governor Thomas Mitchell Campbell appointed Ramsey to chair the board of commissioners of the Texas prison system, and in 1908, Campbell tapped Ramsey to fill a vacancy on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, in Austin, Texas.[1] Ramsey won the election to that seat in November 1909, and served in that capacity until 1911, when he resigned to accept an appointment from Campbell to the Texas Supreme Court.[1][2][3] Ramsey "served conspicuously on the bench, some of his rulings handed down in the higher courts of Texas attracting considerable attention".[3] On May 29, 1912, Ramsey resigned from the Supreme Court to become a candidate for Governor of Texas,[2] running for the Prohibition Party,[1] but losing to the Democratic candidate, Oscar Branch Colquitt.[3]
Ramsey remained in Austin, where he resumed the practice of law, in partnership with his son, S. D. Ramsey, until 1916,[2][3] when he moved to Dallas, Texas to accept an appointment as Federal Reserve Agent of the Eleventh District, and chairman of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.[1][2][3]
Personal life
Ramsey married his first wife in 1878; they had one son. After her death in 1885, he remarried in 1886 and had six more children.[1] Ramsey died on October 27, 1922, in his home in Dallas.[1]
