Sam Houston beyond 1850

Introduction

“I have no hope for Sam, he is too wild.”amuel Houston and Elizabeth Paxton of Virginia gave birth to their 5th of nine children, a son bearing his fathers name “Sam”, on March 2, 1793. Samuel Houston was a militia captain. While fulfilling his military duties as a militia inspector, he died unexpectedly in the spring of 1807. Sam was only 13 when his father died. Young Sam Houston had a passion for literature, and it was The Iliad that was his favorite, and although he admitted he was unable to endure formal education for less than a year altogether, he was non-the less intellectual (Houston, 14-128).

Sam Hudson Biography: 1850 and beyond

Sam Houston Lodge No. 32, operated under a special dispensation from October, 1849 through December 1850.  During this time the Lodge received many new members, both by the conferring of degrees and by Affiliation from other Lodges.  Beginning with a dozen members in October, 1846, the Lodge had a total of twenty five Master Masons on its roster at the close of 1848, the lodge. as well as several who had received only one or two of the degrees.  Many of the petitioners had been rejected.

Having proved that it was working according to Masonic customs and regulations, the Lodge was granted a regular Charter by the Grand Lodge of Texas on January 19, 1850. The principal officers named in the charter were, Robert Burns, Worshipful Master, Robert R. Graves, Senior Warden and John E. Myrick, Junior Warden (Marshall, 36-96).

The Lodge continued to prosper for a few years.  Among the new members were men who had been identified as leaders in the old Regulator-Moderator troubles.  The Cornerstone of the new Masonic hall was laid on the second Saturday in March, 1851.  The Lodge had voted on February 8, 1851,, to invite Oran Milo Roberts of San Augustine, who was later a Governor of Texas, to deliver an oration on the occasion (Houston, 41-96).

Sam Houston Lodge No. 32, operated at a time when Masonic buildings were often used for church purposes as well as school purposes.  Benjamin T. Kavanaugh, editor of Texas Masonic Mirror, stated in an editorial dated April 17, 1782, that it was common in traveling through Arkansas and Texas to find a two-story church or school house.  The upper story of which was used as a Masonic Lodge.  Many Lodges secured charters from the state legislature to operate schools of learning (Tax Lists, 32-96).

It is not certain that Sam Houston Lodge No. 32 was involved in such an undertaking; however, we find that the Legislature of Texas incorporated Shelby University on December 2, 1850, and that seventeen of the thirty trustees names in the charter of Shelby University were known Masons.  Included in known Masons were: Nicholas H. Darnell, Archibald W. O. Hicks, John D. Norton, John L. Bridges, Hiram Cozart, John T. Booth, Robert McWilliams, James Truitt, Alfred M. Truitt, Harrison Davis, R. R. Graves, Thomas Carroll, W. P. Landrum, William Hall, ...