Temple Lea Houston was the only one of the Houstons' eight children to be born in the Texas governor's residence in Austin in 1860. By the time he was seven in 1867, both his parents had died. He lived with an older sister and her family in nearby Georgetown, Texas. At the age of 13, Houston left home to join a cattle drive, and later worked on a riverboat on the Mississippi River. Aided by a friend of his father, he gained an appointment as a page in the U.S. Senate, and worked in Washington, DC, for three years.
Houston returned to Texas in 1877 at the age of 17 to attend the Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Texas A&M University). He transferred to Baylor University in Waco, where he graduated in 1880 with honors in law and philosophy. He "read the law" with an established firm and was admitted to the bar. He was the youngest attorney in Texas when he opened his practice.[4] That year, he was appointed as the attorney for Brazoria County near Houston, Texas.[4]
Houston carried a Colt revolver, which he named "Old Betsy", always strapped to his waist. Some called him "the best shot in the West." He wore buckskin attire from Mexico and a sombrero with a wide brim and a silver eagle. Like his father, he was more than six feet tall. He had gray eyes; his auburn hair was usually shoulder-length. His knowledge of the Bible and classical literature was all-encompassing. He easily commanded the attention of any audience.[5]
Marriage and family
Established in his career, on February 14, 1883, 23-year-old Houston married Laura Cross, the daughter of a planter. They lived near Fort Elliott, which protected the border against American Indians, as well as the important cattle drives. The couple had seven children, only four of whom lived past infancy. His 4 year old daughter, Samantha, died of a fall at the Driskill Hotel in Texas in 1897. Her ghost surrounds the haunted folklore behind the painting "Love Letters" which her father had asked a painter to make in memory of his daughter.[4]
He concentrated his law practice on the Santa Fe railroad (the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway).[4] He spoke French and Spanish, as well as seven Indian languages. In 1888, he gave the dedication address for the opening of the Texas State Capitol, which is still in use after several renovations.[6]
Houston participated in the Oklahoma Territory's Land Run of 1893. In 1894, Houston moved his family to the cattle town of Woodward in Oklahoma Territory. He was legal counsel of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway; its Woodward depot became one of the most important points in the territory for cattle shipping to the East. Houston became widely known and popular for his courtroom dramatics. He was charged with murder in the shooting of a brother of the outlaw Al Jennings, after an argument in the Cabinet Saloon, and was acquitted.
Houston won a reputation as a brilliant trial lawyer. In 1899, he delivered his "Soiled Dove Plea" in a makeshift courtroom in Woodward's opera house. The argument on behalf of Minnie Stacey, a prostitute who worked at the Dew Drop Inn, became famous for winning her acquittal after ten minutes' consideration by the jury.[4]
Houston had agreed to be a candidate in Oklahoma's first gubernatorial election, but died two years before statehood.[7]
Houston died of a cerebral hemorrhage on August 15, 1905, in Woodward, then still Oklahoma Territory. His wife Laura lived until April 17, 1938. They are buried together at Elmwood Cemetery in Woodward.
Representation in other media
Edna Ferber modeled her main character of Yancey Cravat on Temple Houston in her novel Cimarron (1929). (The novel was adapted as film versions under the same name, produced in 1931 and 1960.)
^David G. Burnet was the first president of the Republic of Texas, serving on an interim basis March 18 – October 22, 1836, while Sam Houston led the army against the Mexican forces.[2] After Houston's capture of Santa Anna, elections were held in the Republic and he became the first elected president of the Republic and later the third president. After Texas was annexed by the United States, Sam Houston became a United States senator from Texas, and was later elected as the state's seventh governor.[3]
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