The story of Sam Houston and the women in his life reads at times like a 19th Century soap opera, but as we approach the 21st Century it remains as just another reason for the fascination with this flamboyant American figure. Houston was elected governor of Tennessee at 35 and mentioned as presidential material. Eliza left Sam. He went to live with the Cherokees. In Nashville only months later, Houston was told that Eliza had reconsidered. This time HE refused. That summer he married a Cherokee woman, Tiana Rogers.
Houston, on a Southern horse-buying expedition, met the talented Margaret Lea at an Alabama strawberry festival in the summer of She had seen him arrive by boat in New Orleans after the battle of San Jacinto in , a wounded hero. Their planned marriage seemed a mis-match. He was 47 and she was They were married May 9, , in Alabama. She bore him eight children. At her prodding he began attending church services in Washington, joined the Baptist church in Huntsville, and was baptized in a Baptist ceremony at Rocky Creek near Independence in He went to live with the Cherokees In Nashville only months later, Houston was told that Eliza had reconsidered.
