The Baytown Sun from Baytown, Texas • Page 28

10-C THE BAYTOWN SUN Sunday, October 20, 1985 HISTORY HIGHLIGHTS Liberty lawyer Houston lived, worked in this area In the late 1830s and the early 1840s, Sam Houston occupied a law office on the corner of Main Street and Sam Houston Avenue in Liberty. While practicing law in Liberty, Houston resided in homes at Cedar Point (on Tri-City Beach Road near Baytown) and Grand Cane located 22 miles north of Liberty on Highway 146. It was at this time he served two separate terms as president of the Republic of Texas. His title was challenged by the liam heirs, but it was affirmed by the Texas Supreme Court in 1848. With the purpose of promoting Sabine Pass lots, Houston traveled to Mobile, Ala, and met Martin A.

Lea and William Bledsoe in 1839. In addition to convincing Lea and Bledsoe on the virtues of the Republic, Houston met and eventually decided to marry Margaret Lea. After their marriage on May 9, 1840, Sam and Sam Houston maintained his law office for several years in downtown Liberty across the street from the courthouse square. Sam Houston's connections in Liberty County began in 1833 and were based on land ownership which continued until his death in 1862. By 1850 Houston owned more than 25,000 acres in Liberty County including family homes established at Cedar Point (now Chambers County) in 1840 and Grand Cane in 1842.

Other aspects of his Liberty County relationship were his practice of law from 1838 to 1855, the establishment of the Concord Baptist Church in 1845 and his speculation in the development of Wallisville (now Chambers County) and Sabine Pass (now Jefferson County). Houston bought the tract known as Cedar Point on Dec. 2, 1837, from David and Tabetha Harris. Mrs. Harris was the widow of John liams.

Houston paid $1,200 cash and signed a promissary note for the remaining $7,304, payable in three equal installments at the 12th, 18th and 24th month. Houston signed the deed as the President of the Republic and a resident of Nacogdoches County. Margaret established their first home at Cedar Point. The two-room, hewn log house and its bay location remained their favorite retreat. They had other homes at Grand Cane, Independence and Huntsville but Cedar Point was reported to have been their favorite.

And it was the only home that they owned continuously throughout their marriage. The Houstons made their family home at Grand Cane from 1842 to 1846. Sam frequently left Margaret at the house with her relatives as he attended to his political duties as President of the Republic, representative to the Annexation Convention in 1845 and United States Senator, residing at the seats of government in Austin, Washington-on-the-Brazos and Washington, D.C. A description of the Grand Cane house by Rufe Emanuel, a resident of the area: "Double pine log house, with hall between two rooms, front and back porch, and a room adjoining the back porch. At the north end was the chimney." The chimney, the last remains of the house, was observed and utilized as a landmark by a surveyor in 1896.

By 1936 when the present historical marker on Highway 146 was erected, only the crape myrtle trees planted by Margaret remained as a reminder of the house's location. More lasting than the Grand Cane house was the church that served their spiritual needs. On a location four miles from the Houston house, the Concord Baptist Church was founded on May 24,1845. Houston, often criticized and slandered for his life with the Indians and at times his nonreligious behavior, attended services at the church and probably assisted in its construction. While making his homes at Cedar Point and Grand Cane, Houston practiced law at the Liberty County Courthouse and maintained his office across from the courthouse square.

Full documentation of his legal practice was lost in the 1874 courthouse fire, but surviving documents and oral tradition lead one to conclude that his practice centered around land, also, he made an occasional appearance as a defense attorney or prosecutor for the Republic or state of Texas. Houston continued his practice in Liberty until at least 1855. In 1833 he owned 28,784 acres in Liberty County. Two other counties eventually were carved out of Liberty County Chambers and Jefferson and Houston's land was located in all three counties. One must assume that Sam Houston and many of his men at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836 were instilled with vigor to fight to the death for their lands in Texas that they had toiled for so many years to possess.

IN 1918 THIS photo of the remains of Sam Houston's law office In Liberty was taken by photographer Gus Boettcher. He snapped the picture just before the building was demolished. The structure was razed to make room for a brick building for the Neyland Brothers. That's our Sam Sam Houston, president of the Republic of Texas and governor of the state of Texas, was the friend and neighbor of countless people in East Harris, Chambers and Liberty counties. Off and on, throughout his years in Texas, he practiced law and lived in this area.

More than any other part of the state more than Nacogdoches, Austin or even Huntsville this corner of Texas can be called FIRST LIBERTY National Bank Parking Plaza at new marker on the site of Houston's law office. A the southwest corner of Main Street and Sam marker established in 1935 will be rededicated by Avenue will be the scene of a marker dedication ceremony at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 26. Jean Daniel, a descendant of Sam Houston, will unveil a another descendant, Margie Sargent.

(Sun staff photo by Jim Kyle) Houston visited often in the home of Amos Barber Sam Houston had many friends in Chambers and East Harris counties when he lived at Cedar Point in the vicinity of present-day Beach City. In his memoirs, Amos Barber talks about Houston visiting at their home in Barbers Hill. "Gen. Sam Houston was a great friend of my father," Barber wrote. "His home was about 18 miles south of us on the bay.

Our home was about halfway between Houston's place and Dayton. "On his trips to Huntsville he always spent some time at our house, either for dinner on his way to Dayton, or spent the night if it was late. We always had from one to four people there for supper, spend the night there and breakfast. Col. Gillet was often a guest.

He lived down near Cedar Bayou and Goose Creek, but had an orphan's home near Goose Creek and always stayed with us on his trips back and forth." (Barber was referring to Henry Gillette, who was the superintendent of Bayland Orphanage.) "Col. Ashbel Smith, who was president of the medical college in Galveston, was often a guest at our house. He had a place near Goose Creek. New marker at site of office History will repeat itself in Liberty Oct. 26 when a marker is dedicated at the site of a building once used by Sam Houston as a law office.

In 1935, the year before the Texas Centennial celebration, a "marker was dedicated at the site of Houston's law office. Margie Baldwin Sargent, a great-great-granddaughter of Gen. Houston, participated, in the ceremony. Mrs. Sargent will be present when the new marker is dedicated and will rededicate the 1935 marker.

The 1985 marker will be unveiled by Jean Houston Baldwin Daniel, the great-great- granddaughter of Houston and the Price Daniel. Like Sam Houston, Mrs. Daniel's husband has served as a governor of Texas and as a U.S. senator. Also like Houston, Price Daniel has practiced law in Liberty, where the great Texas general had strong bus- iness ties and an active law practice.

The official Texas Historical marker Sam Houston in Liberty County will be dedicated in a ceremony starting at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 26 at the southwest corner of the intersection of Main and Sam Houston Avenue. That's across the street from the Liberty Courthouse. The main speaker will be Ray Miller, author of the "Eyes of Texas" books and other publications on Now producer of "Ray Miller's Texas" on Channel 11, Miller originated the "Eyes of Texas" program on Channel 2.

After the program, visitors will be invited to view the exhibit "Sam Houston in Liberty County" prepared by the Sam Hojaston Regional Library Center in honor of the marker dedication. The exhibit will be in the lobby of First Liberty National Bank. "After Gen. Houston moved back to Huntsville, his son-in- law, Sim Morrow, lived at his home on the bay, and when he moved away he brought a lot of Gen. Houston's things to our house and left them.

"Among them, I remember a basket full of things, a powder horn, two pairs of shoes, a pair of moccasins and a pair of rubber shoes, some books and a carpet bag. Those things stayed at our house for years. In fact, he never came for them. Years later Ruf Barber took the powder horn and let a man have it who promised to get money for it. "Gen.

Houston's room was upstairs over our main family room. It was there for him whenever he came." Another friend of Sam Houston's was Uncle Will Armstrong who lived to be 90-years- old. In his last years Armstrong lived in a one-room log cabin on the east bank of Cedar Bayou halfway between the Trinity Bay and Barbers Hill. His father, James Armstrong, notary public and stenographer, wrote letters for Sam Houston. He often ran errands for him and.

carried messages to different parts of the countryside. The Armstrongs lived in a home near the mouth of Cedar Bayou, on the Chambers County side, until 1867. Their home was next to the Houston summer home, and Armstrong was a close friend of the Houston children and often visited in the Houston home at Cedar Point. Sam Houston's son, Andrew Jackson Houston, often visited him to swap tales of early Texas history. Few visitors called at his log cabin home, but those who did were rewarded with rich tales of Armstrong's youth.

Choice guests were favored with stories of Sam Houston. The last time he saw the general was while he and his son were fishing in a small boat near the mouth of Cedar Bayou. "General Houston sat under a hackberry tree at the mouth of the bayou," Armstrong said, "and he stayed there all day, looking westward across the bay in the direction of the San Jacinto Battle ground." Houston at this time had been deposed as governor of Texas because of his views on secession from the Union during the Civil War. "That's the last time I ever got to see the general," Armstrong said. "He went to Huntsville and died a year later." Sun staff stories by Jim Kyle IN 1935 THIS marker was established in Liberty at the southwest corner of Main Street and Sain Houston Avenue at the Islte of Sam Houston's law office.

CEDAR POINT, located off Tri-Clty Beach Road, was the only home Sam and Margaret Houston owned continuously throughout their marriage. A marker at the home site was established in honor of the Texas Centennial. (Sun staff photo by Jim Kyle) TEXAS CENTENNIAL and Liberty Bicentennial markers are found in front of what was the Grand Cane home of Sam Houston. Grand Cane, located 22 miles north of Liberty, is on the east side of Highway 146..