Edward Reeves Kone (March 15, 1848 â January 30, 1933) was an American lawyer and politician. A Democrat, he served as Texas Agriculture Commissioner from 1908 to 1914.
Born in Montgomery County, Texas, Kone worked as a lawyer and served as Hays County Judge for multiple years. A conservative, he opposed Reconstruction and helped organize the Ku Klux Klan in Texas. Within agriculture policy, he supported small farmers.
Kone was born on March 15, 1848, in Montgomery County, Texas, the eldest of ten children born to Samuel Reid Kone and Rebecca Sylvira (née Pitts) Kone. When he was born, he weighed ten pounds and, according to the San Antonio Express-News, his father said Kone had the ugliest face that he had ever seen. He was originally named Edwin. He was named for two of his uncles: a maternal uncle named Edward Pitts and a paternal uncle named Reeves Kone.
Kone was of German ancestry. His maternal grandfather was politician John Drayton Pitts. Kone's parents married in 1847. His father was a carpenter who went on to fight in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, dying of illness shortly after the war ended. His mother died in May 1910.
Kone grew up on a farm in Stringtown, Hays County, Texas, where his family moved to . He attended private school in San Marcos. He then attended Bastrop Academy and attempted to join the Confederate States Army, but was sent home for being too young. At some point, he worked for a general store in San Marcos and as a cattle drover. He studied law at the Coronal Institute, under William Oscar Hutchison.
Kone was admitted to the bar in either 1869 or March 1870. He spent three years in a law partnership with Hutchison, then two years with H. B. Coffield.
Kone served as Hays County Sheriff for eight months during the Reconstruction era. Then from 1878 to 1890, he was County Judge. During his tenure, he played a role in the construction of a new courthouse, jail, and numerous schools. He also helped absolve Hays County of $30,000 in debt, which he did by having a law passed by the Texas Legislature. Between 1890 and 1894, he continued his work as a lawyer, spending two of those years without a partnership, and the other two partnered with L. H. Browne. He returned to again serve as County Judge from 1894 to 1908.
Following the resignation of Robert Teague Milner as Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Kone was appointed to the office by Governor Thomas Mitchell Campbell. He served from August 1908 to 1914. During his first term, the department was threatened with termination by the state legislature if it did not operate efficiently; the department remained in operation due to Kone's efforts. He served three terms, losing his re-election in 1914. From 1914 to 1920, he served as Assistant Commissioner, under successor Fred Davis. On July 1, 1926, he was appointed judge of the Austin Corporation Court, which he served as until his death. Following his death, J. W. Maxwell succeeded Kone as judge to complete his unexpired term.
Politically, Kone was a member of the Democratic Party. A white supremacist, an obituary in The Austin American described him as "one of the organizers" of the Jim Crow-era Texas government. He opposed Northerner leadership of Texas during Reconstruction. In 1874, he helped oust Unionist Governor Edmund J. Davis from office. He helped organize the First Klan in Texas to suppress black voters and return government control to white Texans.
Within agriculture policy, Kone supported small farmers and cooperated with the Texas branch of the National Farmers Union. He also supported the conservation of Texas' natural resources.
Kone married Lucinda H. Martin in November 1872. They had seven children, with four surviving to adulthood, those being daughters Edna, Eula, Carolina, and Julia. He was a Methodist. He was part of several fraternities and agricultural organizations, such as the Volunteer Firemen, which he served as president of for a time.
Kone died on January 30, 1933, aged 84, in Austin, from illness. He is buried at Oakwood Cemetery. Following his death, flags flew at half-mast and government buildings closed in mourning. He was commemorated by the Texas House of Representatives the same day he died, in a unanimous decision. In 1984, his house, the Kone-Cliett House, was added to the National Register of Historic Places.