This Day In Texas History - January 20

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1798 - Anson Jones, doctor, congressman, and the last president of the Republic of Texas, was born at Seekonkville, Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

1840 - John Hemphill was elected judge by the Congress of the Republic of Texas to the Fourth Judicial District, an election that automatically made him an associate justice of the republic Supreme Court. He was confirmed in the office on today's date. He participated in the Council House Fight in San Antonio. In 1840-41 Hemphill joined several campaigns against the Comanches, and in 1842-43, during a period when the Supreme Court did not meet, he served as adjutant general of the Somervell expedition.

1853 - John McMullen, co-founder of the McMullen-McGloin Colony, was murdered by an unidentified assassin in San Antonio. During the Texas Revolution McMullen was a member of the General Council.

1858 - Governor Hardin R. Runnels was authorized to recruit a force of 100 Texas Rangers under Capt. John S. Ford for the protection of the frontier.

1871 - The first public library in Texas was opened in Galveston.

1880 - A 6½-mile rail line as well as the bridge across the Sabine River was completed by the The Louisiana Western Extension, and the first locomotive crossed over from Texas to Louisiana. The completion of the rail line would link New Orleans to Houston later this year.

1881 - The first issue of the San Antonio Light was published. In 1890 the paper was described as the only Republican daily in Texas. In 1924 William Randolph Hearst bought the Light and by 1945 the circulation had climbed to 70,000. In 1972 the Light, with a daily circulation of 122,292 and a Sunday circulation of 160,905, was one of the leading Hearst newspapers in the United States. By 1987, however, it was operating on a deficit, and in October 1992 the Hearst corporation, after purchasing the rival San Antonio Express-News, closed the Light.

1891 - Based on a campaign platform calling for the regulation of railroads and big business, James Hogg took office as the first native-born governor of Texas.

1925 - Miriam A Ferguson (Ma Ferguson) was sworn in as Texas first woman Governor.

1944 - The Thirty-sixth Infantry Division, nicknamed the "Texas Division," began its "two-day nightmare," the crossing of the Rapido River in Italy. General Mark Clark needed pressure on the German defensive line below Rome to prevent the Germans from counterattacking the projected Allied beachhead at Anzio. Further, an Allied breakthrough into the Liri valley would facilitate the march toward Rome. The Rapido’s swift current and muddy banks, together with the lack of adequate boats and bridging equipment, compounded the difficulties—not to mention the strong German defenses. The division suffered heavy casualties, including 143 killed, 663 wounded, and 875 missing. The division participated in the continuing Italian campaign, including the liberation of Rome, and went on to invade Southern France and advance into Germany.

1965 - Lyndon Johnson was sworn in to his first full term as America's 36th president, after completing President John F. Kennedy's term following Kennedy's assassination

1989 - George H.W. Bush was sworn in as America's 41st President .

2001 - Former Texas Governor George W. Bush was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States.