Houston, George S.

Born: 1811-01-17 Williamson County, Tennessee

Died: 1879-12-31 Athens, Alabama

Born near Franklin, Tennessee, Houston moved with his parents to Lauderdale County, Alabama. He attended an academy and studied law in Florence, Alabama and Harrodsburg, Kentucky. He earned admittance to the bar in 1831 and started a practice in Florence. Houston won election to the Alabama House of Representatives in 1832. He moved to Athens and married Mary Beatty in 1835. They had eight children, but only four reached adulthood. He served at the state's attorney for the Florence Judicial District in 1836. Houston won election, as a Democrat, to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving from 1841-1849. He won election back to Congress in 1851, serving until January 1861, when he joined other secessionist Alabama representatives in withdrawing.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 1240-41; Gravestone, Athens City Cemetery, Athens, AL; J. Mills Thornton III, "Houston, George Smith," American National Biography, ed. by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 11:276-78.