Constant Kirtland Hall: A Pioneer Merchant and Stagecoach Operator in Texas (1818–1873)
By: Steven W. Hooper
Published: September 18, 2024
Updated: September 18, 2024
Constant Kirtland Hall was a prominent Bastrop merchant, mail contractor, and partner in a large stagecoach firm that operated lines throughout Texas. He also served as the U.S. collector of customs for the District of Texas with headquarters in Galveston. Hall was born on August 8, 1818, in Wallingford, Connecticut, to parents Hiel Hall and Sarah (Kirtland) Hall. According to his obituary in the Galveston Daily News, he worked in a mercantile business in New York City when he was a youth and moved from Connecticut to Texas about 1839, when he was twenty-one. Hall married Margaret M. Hedenberg in Houston, Harris County, Texas, on March 8, 1840. The couple then settled in Victoria where he became a merchant. After the Linnville Raid of 1840, in which the towns of Victoria and Linville were attacked and sacked by Comanches, the Halls were forced to return to Houston. Their only child, Kate, was born there in 1845.
The family settled in Central Texas by 1850, when they were listed on the U. S. census in the town of Bastrop. Hall was a successful Bastrop merchant and financial supporter and trustee of the Bastrop Military Institute which was founded in 1857. Well-known students of this institution included Sam Houston, Jr., and future Texas governor Joseph Draper Sayers. The school was moved to Austin in 1870 and became known as the Texas Military Institute.
By 1860 C. K. Hall was active in the stagecoach line business with partners B. Risher and E. M. B. Sawyer. The trio formed the firm Sawyer, Risher & Hall (see RISHER AND HALL STAGE LINES), which grew to control sixteen of the thirty-one passenger and mail lines in Texas. The business carried United States mail, freight, and passengers throughout the state. During the Civil War, they carried mail for the Confederacy and continued their passenger service. Many immigrants who landed at the ports of Galveston and Indianola continued their journey inland on Sawyer, Risher & Hall stagecoaches. The firm grew so large that it employed more than 300 drivers and used more than 1,000 horses and mules in their operations. Sawyer, Risher & Hall stagecoaches traveled over 4,000 miles of Texas roads every day.
Hall was appointed collector of customs at Galveston by President Andrew Johnson. Hall replaced Oscar Minor who had died after a brief time in office. Hall was confirmed as collector by the U.S. Senate on July 1, 1868. Collector Hall was removed from this patronage position in April 1869 after President Ulysses S. Grant was elected. News items in the Galveston Daily News in May 1869 indicated that Hall considered candidacy for Texas governor, but nothing materialized.
By 1870 the Sawyer, Risher & Hall partners divided ownership of their stagecoach lines. Sawyer operated four lines. Risher and Hall operated seven lines over the following routes: Brenham to Austin, Columbus to San Antonio, Columbus to La Grange, Victoria to Austin, Victoria to San Antonio, Austin to Waco, and Austin to San Antonio. Five of the lines operated on a triweekly schedule; the other two lines ran daily.
At the age of fifty-four, Constant Kirtland Hall, who had suffered “violent attacks of inflammatory rheumatism,” died in Austin, Texas, on January 22, 1873. He was buried at the Fairview Cemetery located in Bastrop, Texas. In his obituary, Hall was described as “a gentleman of an ardent and impulsive temperament, quick to denounce the wrong and defend the right according to his judgment and conscience. In his business relations he was ever considered honest, liberal and just. In his friendship he was sincere, faithful and active. The sick and destitute were the constant objects of his care and attention. As a citizen, he was public-spirited and patriotic.”
Bibliography:
Baltimore Sun, June 12, 1868; July 2, 1868. “Constant K Hall,” Find A Grave Memorial (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/52781635/constant_k_hall), accessed August 31, 2024. Daily Picayune (New Orleans), February 9, 1867. Galveston Daily News, July 4, 1868; September 2, 1868; April 28, 1869; May 1, 8, 1869; January 30, 1873. “Handwritten Biographical Information on Constant K. Hall and Family,” Hall, Manuscript, file number 2007.391.002, Special Collections and Archives, Bastrop Museum and Visitor’s Center. Houston Tri-Weekly Telegraph, June 3, 1863.
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The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
Steven W. Hooper, “Hall, Constant Kirkland,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/hall-constant-kirkland.
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- September 18, 2024
- September 18, 2024
