"Family Bible records and recall since 1909 includes our Homesteadclan . Samuel J. Houston, certainly known by his grandchildren as thefather o f Alpha, no doubt should have been named in the nextcollateral informa tion - - -
Glenn A. Anderson as source per Ruth Mildred Houston: " 'Mills RandolfH ouston' [actually Sam J. ] "began 1910 to prove a claim 4 mi. SW ofHom estead, FL then 1919 moved to Wichita" -- and the family'sFurniture & L umber & Hardware businesses.
Mark Houston in Nov. 2000 forwarded from the Witchita Beacon of Dec.15 , 1939 --
Mr. Houston was born in Galva, Illinois, Dec. 1st, 1865, and drove toK ansas with a horse drawn two wheel cart when he was but 16 yearsold. . .. "he returned to Jewell County, Kansas, and established afarm. Mr. H ouston had left a part of his heart in Illinois, however,and in 1887 h e returned to that state and claimed his bride, theformer Miss Dora An n Neaves, whom he married December 28 of thatyear. Mr. and Mrs. Housto n celebrated their Golden WdddingAnniversary two years ago this month. . .. and they established theirhome on the Jewell County farm. Recurring d roughts plagued theyouthful farmer and he decided to return to the lum ber business. Hewent to work for his brother, A. C. Houston, who owned s everal lumberyards in Kansas, starting at Neodosha, Kansas. ... he wen t to (work)at Wynnwood, where he stayed until 1902, at which time he r eturned toWichita.
Shortly thereafter he established the Houston-Doughty Lumber Companyat W ichita ... and soon set up branches throughout the state ofKansas."
This same gentleman says Dora died in 1890, having birthed only sonJoh n. He further states Sam married a second wife in 1894 and listsan en tirely different set of children for him but in view of thefollowing c ensus records, that obviously is not correct.
Residences & events:
If Samuel returned to IL from KS to get married, he must have stayedat l east a year until daughter Elizabeth was born there in 1888before goin g back west. The rest of the children were born in KS.
6/6/1900 Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory. By census time thefamil y had moved and the household included Sam J, 34, a lumberman,married 1 2 years to Dora A who had borne 4 children, all living withthem: Eliz abeth, 11, John M, 9, Laura A, 8, and Helen, 5.
4/19/1910 Wichita, Sedgewick Co, KS. That year the census listedSamu el J, 44, married 22 years to Dora N, 39, who had birthed 6children bu t only 5 still survived. Children in the household atthat time were a ll girls: Laura, 18, Helen, 15, Josephine, 7, andPauline, 2.
1/12/1920 Same place. At census time Samuel J was a retail lumberme rchandiser. He was 54. Wife Dora N was 50 and daughter JosephineE, 1 7, was still at home.
4/7/1930 Still there. The census taker recorded Sam J at 64, awholes ale merchant of lumber, with a huge amount of property for theday valu ed at $20,000. Dora N was 60, married at age 18, Samuemarried at 22. L iving with them was divorced daughter, Helen, 36,who apparently she ha d resumed her maiden name.
He owned a lumber company there.
