Houston, Samuel

2 Mar. 1793–26 July 1863. Clerk, teacher, attorney, politician. Born near Lexington, Rockbridge Co., Virginia. Son of Samuel Houston and Elizabeth Paxton. Moved to Blount Co., Tennessee, ca. 1808. Left home to live with Cherokee Indians. Served in U.S. Infantry, 1813–1818. Passed Tennessee bar examinations, 1818. Elected district attorney for Nashville District, Davidson Co., Tennessee, 1819. Adjutant general of Tennessee, 1820; major general, 1821. Served as U.S. representative from Tennessee, 4 Mar. 1823–3 Mar. 1827. Governor of Tennessee, 1827–1829. Married first Eliza Allen, 1829, near Gallatin, Sumner Co., Tennessee. Moved to Arkansas Territory (later in Oklahoma) to reside among Cherokee Indians, 1829. Married second Diana Rogers, ca. 1830. Made a member of Cherokee Nation. Commissioned by Andrew Jackson to arrange treaties with Indians to protect settlers, 1832. Moved to east Texas area of Mexico, ca. 1832. Lived at Nacogdoches, Mexico (later in Nacogdoches Co., Texas), by ca. 1835. Member of constitutional convention for Republic of Texas, 1835. Commander in chief of Texas Army, 1836. Served as president of Republic of Texas, 1836–1838, 1841–1844. Member of Texas Congress, 1838–1840. Married third Margaret M. Lea, May 1840, in Perry Co., Alabama. Member of Baptist church, after 1840. Served as U.S. senator from Texas, 1846–1859. Chairman of U.S. Congress Committee on Militia, 1849–1857. Lived in Walker Co., Texas, 1850. Governor of Texas, 1859–1861. Lived in Austin, Travis Co., Texas, 1860. Died in Huntsville, Walker Co.