Sam Houston's son William Rogers Houston

Sam Houston and his wife Margaret’s family grew to herald four sons and four daughters. Of the sons, the Sandbar has written about three of their sons, Samuel Jr., Andrew, and Temple Lea.

William Rogers, their next to youngest son, was born at Huntsville on May 25, 1858, shortly before his father was elected Governor. He was named after a favorite cousin of his mother, Colonel William P. Rogers, a well-known Texas lawyer and soldier. William was the quiet Houston son that went through life without creating bangs and bugles blaring about himself.

By the time young Willie was nearly three years old, his father was ‘deposed’ as Governor as the State of Texas over his stand for the State not to secede from the United States. Texas then became a part of the Confederacy leading to the long Civil War years. Houston, vehemently, had campaigned against secession.

A still younger brother, Temple Lea, was the first of the Houston’s children to be born in the Texas Governor’s Mansion in August 1860; and was less than a year old when his father was deposed as Governor. The Sandbar has related how Temple Lea was the adventurous and flamboyant son who joined a cattle drive at age 13, and later as a lawyer, drew a gun in a courtroom. He would die in Oklahoma at the young age of shy of forty-five of a brain hemorrhage in 1905.

Both, youngest Temple Lea and third youngest Willie, as he was called, became parentless by 1867. Houston died in 1863, followed by their mother, Margaret in the 1867 yellow fever epidemic.

Following the death of both parents, the youngest children were moved from Independence to Georgetown where daughter Nancy Houston Morrow’s husband operated a merchandise store. Willie attended public school in Georgetown to later be a student at Salado College and subsequently Texas University.

Little is known about Willie. Biographers only mention that Willie’s mother thought he was not a strong child and was anxious about his health. However, by the time he was six years old, his mother concluded that “Willie Rogers is a very hale stout boy.”

One would surmise that he was more of a private person than any of his brothers, because little is written about Willie’s life. A lifelong friend named Cullen T. Tomas said that “throughout his lifetime, ties to his family were very close.” Much like his father’s dedication to the American Indians, Willie made a lifetime serving the Indians, mainly in Oklahoma.

Willie died there on a day he was riding out of Hugo, Oklahoma on a mission to an Indian reservation. He apparently suffered a heart attack and fell dead from his horse. The date was March 8, 1920, at the early age of 61. He was buried in Dallas in the Oak Cliff Cemetery.

Willie’s eldest brother, Samuel Jr., born in 1843 died at the age of 50 at Independence in 1894 and is buried in the Old Independence Cemetery. He had joined the Confederacy in 1861 to be wounded, left for dead at the Battle of Shiloh, to be identified by a note in a Bible his mother had given him. He was held a Union prisoner. Following the War, he studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania to practice for a short time before becoming a writer.

Brother Andrew, born in 1854, became a well -respected lawyer and lived far beyond his brothers. In April 1941, in failing health, he was named to the U. S. Senate to fill the vacancy of Senator Morris Sheppard. Two months later, during his first committee meeting, he became unconscious and died five days later on his 87th birthday. Remarkably, before his death, submitted a bill acquiring $250,000 for the San Jacinto Monument.

Written by Betty Dunn, Two Rivers Heritage Foundation. See www.tworiversheritagefoundation.org for more info and membership.