HomeMy WebLinkAboutAC215_SMITH_CRAWFORD_AND_SONFIELD_LAW_RECORDSTYRRELL HISTORICAL LIBRARY
AC -215
The Smith, Crawford, and Sonfield Law Records
Dates: 1884-1971
Description
The inception of the Smith, Crawford, and Sonfield Law Firm coincided with the birth of the modern
fuel age. The genesis of the firm began at Beaumont in 1897 with the association of young Walter J.
Crawford and Judge W.H. Ford, of Beaumont. Crawford, a native Texan, was a graduate of the
University of Texas Law School. Leon Sonfield, a native of Tennessee, left the Spencer and Kincaid
Law Firm of Galveston, andjoined the firm of Ford and Crawford in late 1900.
Stuart R. Smith joined the firm in 1902, after the death of Judge Ford. The firm then became known as
Smith, Crawford, and Sonfield. Smith was born in Tyler County in 1867, and moved to Beaumont
during the oil "boom" in 1901-1902. Smith was considered a brilliant attorney by his peers and was
famous across the state for his celebrated jury addresses. He was also known for his political activities
on the state and national level. The firm enjoyed a successful practice, and was rated one of the leading
legal organizations in the state.
In 1913, Judge Sonfield retired from the firm to become a member of the Commission of Appeals in
Austin. He was replaced by C.E. Mead, former Attorney General of Texas. Mead was succeeded by
John Daily, former Assistant United States Attorney, and upon his death, William N. Foster became a
member of the firm.
After the death of Judge Crawford in 1924, the firm of Smith, Crawford, and Sonfield was dissolved in
1927, and the firm became Smith, Smith, and Boyd. Stuart R. Smith became senior member of the firm
in 1930, and died in 1937.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of 287 folders, pertaining mostly to various legal cases involving the oil and
lumber industries and agricultural lands in Southeast Texas. They include case papers,
correspondence, financial statements, and title abstracts. The collection focuses on litigation
procedures and real estate transactions. Of particular interest are several correspondence files dealing
with the Jesse C. Humphries lineage and the Stowell Canal Company.
There are at least eighty-eight (88) folders relating to case file documents, twenty-two (22) folders
relating to various legal correspondence, forty-two (42) folders of various legal documents that relate to
lands in Jefferson County, Texas, including seven (7) folders that relate to lands outside of Jefferson
County and the State of Texas. Twelve (12) folders relate to real estate property within the Beaumont
city limits, twenty-two (22) folders of Stuart R. Smith correspondence, 1917-1923, and thirty-six (36)
folders relate to the Estate of Stuart R. Smith, and forty-three (41) folders that relate to Federal, County,
State and City estate records, two (2) folders containing to photographs of Stuart R. Smith, c. 1920.
Also included are maps and plats in Jefferson and Hardin Counties. The inclusive years of the
collection vary from 1884 to 1971.
No restrictions apply.
Processed: Joe Walker, July
1995