Houston

Heights, a Philadelphia suburb. He erected
many houses in the vicinity of his residence and
built the Wissahickon Inn and the Protestant
Episcopal Church of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields.
He was a generous benefactor of Washington
and Lee University and the University of Penn-
sylvania, being a trustee of both institutions from
1886 to the time of his death, and presenting the
latter institution with Houston Hall—a club
house "for the daily use of the students of the
University"—as a memorial to his oldest son,
Henry Howard Houston, who graduated in 1878
and died the following year while traveling in
Europe. The elder Houston's wife, whom he
married in 1856, was Sallie Sherred Bonnell, and
they had six children. His death, occasioned by
heart disease, occurred suddenly at his home in
Philadelphia.

[E. R. Huston, Hist, of the Huston Families and
Their Descendants (1912) ; E. P. Oberholtzer, Phila-
delphia (1912), vol. IV; W. B. Wilson, Hist, of the
Pa. Railroad Company (2 vols., 1899); Public Ledger
(Phila.), and Phila. Press, June 22, 1895.] j_ jj. F.

HOUSTON, SAMUEL (Mar. 2, 1793-July
26, 1863), soldier and statesman of Texas, was
born in Rockbridge County, Va., seven miles
from Lexington. His paternal ancestors were
Ulster Scots who in the first part of the eigh-
teenth century had migrated to Philadelphia and
thence, some time later, to Virginia. Houston's
father, Maj. Sam Houston, was a veteran of the
Revolution who had continued to follow the pro-
fession of a soldier and who died in 1807 while
on a tour of inspection of frontier army posts.
The widow, Elizabeth (Paxton) Houston, re-
moved with her large family of six sons and three
daughters to the vicinity of Maryville, Tenn.,
where her older sons helped her to make a home
only a few miles from the river which separated
the settlements of the pioneers from the eagerly
coveted lands of the Cherokees. Houston's for-
mal education was limited to a few short terms
in neighborhood schools. When he was sixteen,
his brothers secured for him a position 5n the vil-
lage store, but a business life did not appeal to
his adventurous spirit, and he spent the greater
part of three years in the more congenial com-
pany of the Indians across the river. In the free-
dom of the forest he learned the Indian language
and customs and developed a deep sympathy for
the Indian character. Early in 1813 he volun-
teered for service in the war with Great Britain.
Before the end of the summer he had received
his commission as ensign. His first active serv-
ice was in the campaign against the Creeks
under Andrew Jackson. In the decisive engage-
ment at Horseshoe Bend, in Alabama, Mar. 28,
1814, Houston bore his part bravely and received

Houston

wounds from which he never fully recovered.
After the war, he continued in the army and in
1817, through the influence of Jackson, to whom
he had been presented, he received an important
assignment as sub-agent among the Cherokees
(American State Papers; Indian Affairs, vol. II,
1834, P. 46*).

In March 1818 he resigned from the army and
spent a few months in the study and practice of
law. He had all the qualities to appeal to a
frontier community. In later years, among the
many legends that attached to his career one of
the most persistent was that of his almost gigan-
tic size. Actually, the records of the War De-
partment show that he was tall, six feet, two
inches in height, with the brown hair and the
keen, gray eyes that characterize his stock. His
abounding vigor, his army record, and his genius
for dramatic contrasts in speech and dress seemed
to raise even his size above its generous propor-
tions. As a stump speaker he was probably un-
excelled. His personal popularity was soon un-
bounded, and in the first year of his practice he
was elected district attorney for the Nashville
district

In the summer of 1823, without opposition, he
was elected to Congress, and was easily reelect-
ed in 1825. He estimated justly to one of his
friends the reasons for his success: "Five years
since I came to this place without education more
than ordinary—without friends—without cash—
and almost without acquaintances—consequently
without much credit—and here among talents
and distinction I have made my stand! or rather
the people have made it for me" (Foreman Photo-
stats, Austin, Tex.). In Congress he made few
speeches, and those unimportant, but he was evi-
dently well liked by his colleagues and did much
to build the new party which was later to send
Jackson to the White House* In 1827, with un-
dirninished popularity, on a platform which em-
phasized the great need for internal improve-
ments, Houston was elected governor of Ten-
nessee.

In his high position, with manners of great
charm and dignity—which he may have learned
in part from his friends the Indians—he was in
a fair way to become a social lion. With free
use of capitals, he wrote: "I am making myself
less frequent in the Lady World than I have
been. I must keep up my Dignity, or rather I
must attend more to politics and less to love ..."
(Houston Papers, Rice Institute,Houston,Tex.).

When early in 1829 his old friend Jackson
commenced his lonely trip to Washington, Hous-
ton had begun his campaign for reelection. His
opponent was experienced and popular, and suc-

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