Houston, Margaret Moffette Lea
Huntsville, Walker County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(April 11, 1819 - December 3, 1867)Margaret Moffette Lea was born on her family's farm in Pleasant Valley, near Marion, Alabama. She graduated from Judson Female Institute in Marion in 1837, and in 1839 she met General Sam Houston. Houston, who had completed his term as the first President of the Republic of Texas, was visiting Alabama for business ventures. Despite their 26-year age difference, the two married in 1840. During their marriage, Margaret was successful in curbing the General's use of alcohol and in encouranging him to become a dedicated church member.The Houstons owned residences in Houston City and in Cedar Point. In 1841, Gen. Houston was elected to his second term as President of the Republic of Texas. For the first time, Texas had a First Lady, as Margaret joined her husband at the temporary capital of Washington-on-the-Brazos. During the presidency, the couple had the first of their eight children. After the term, the Houston family moved to a plantation they named Raven Hill (14 mi. E). While her husband later served a s a U.S Senator, Margaret Houston managed the plantation and participated in church, social and literary activities. She also underwent surgery and treatment for breast cancer.The family later lived in Huntsville at their Woodland home and in Independence. Margaret Houston continued to raise her family and, when General Houston became Governor, again served as First Lady. The couple later moved to the Steamboat House in Huntsville. After her husband died in 1863, Margaret Houston returned to Independence, where she provided for her children until her death from yellow fever in 1867. Today, Margaret Moffette Lea Houston is remembered as a First Lady and the matriarch of one of the most significant families in Texas history. (2008)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Margaret Moffette Lea was a college-educated Alabama woman of nineteen when she married the 46-year-old Sam Houston in 1840, becoming the Republic of Texas's first true First Lady. She steadied the famous general — curbing his drinking and drawing him into the church — while raising eight children and managing the family plantation through his years in the U.S. Senate and the governorship. She endured breast cancer surgery in an era before anesthesia was common, and outlived her husband by four years before dying of yellow fever in 1867.
Why it matters
She is remembered as the matriarch who shaped one of Texas's most consequential families and as a rare, resilient First Lady of the young Republic.
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Related people
- · Margaret Moffette Lea Houston
- · Sam Houston
Themes & tags
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