John H. Reagan was the son of Timothy R. Reagan.  He was born on Oct 8, 1818 in Tennessee to Timothy Richard and Elizabeth Reagan. and was educated to be a surveyor.  At the age of 21, he came to Texas and did some surveying near Nacogdoches in 1840.  In 1842, he decided to practice law in Anderson County and in 1844, he became a close friend of Colonel Robert Porter, who had hopes of making Porter's Bluff one of the largest cities in Texas.

In 1846, Colonel Porter engaged Mr. Reagan to survey and map out the town lots at the Bluff.  Porter had the idea that a large transportation could be built on the Trinity River, which was one of the largest waterways in Texas.  After the city was drawn, streets and lots were named. The drawing, which was recorded at the County Clerk's office, shows the new town was given the name of Taos.

In 1851, Regan moved to Palestine, Texas, and in 1852, he became the third District Judge of Navarro County, which position he held for six years.  In 1857 he was elected to Congress where he was when the Civil War broke out.  He resigned his office as Congressman and joined the Confederate Army.  Regan served as Secretary of the Treasury before the Civil War was over.  Also before the end of the war, he and Davis was captured by Federal soldiers.  Davis was sent to Fort Monroe and Regan was sent to Fort Warren, on the Boston Harbor.

For more detail on John H. Reagan's political carrier, see his biography in the Hand Book of Texas: http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/RR/fre2.html

Reagan married three times.  In 1842, he married Mrs. Martha Music, who died in 1845; in 1852 he married Edwina Melms, who died in 1863, and in 1865, he married Molly Taylor.

John H. Reagan died on March 6, 1905 and was buried in Palestine, Texas.

Notes:

• See also Biography as Judge