James Johnston Houston. One of the most important phases
of early Oklahoma history was the subject of “free homes.”
A great deal has been said and written on that subject, but perhaps
no one states the matter with greater clearness, as a result of
personal experience, than James Johnston Houston, former commissioner
of the school land office in old Oklahoma Territory, and now a
prominent business man of Henryetta.
In the fall of
1893 Mr. Houston came from Kansas and joined the grand rush that
gathered fifteen thousand people at the Perry land office. During the
next four years, besides being active in business, he was connected
with the various political movements of his locality and the Oklahoma
Territory. While refusing office for himself he acted on committees
of his party, both local and territorial.
“ At this time,”
says Mr. Houston, “ the settlers of Oklahoma were indebted to the
United States for the benefit of the Indians to the sum of
$16,000,000, amounting in some localities to an imposition of about
five hundred dollars to each quarter section. That is, each settler
had to assume this obligation in addition to the heavy investment of
labor and hardship requisite to the development of the raw land. The
delegate to Congress, Hon. Dennis T. Flynn, had introduced a bill in
Congress relieving the settlers of this impossible load. The settlers
of Oklahoma were universally poor people wanting homes, and with this
load during the depressing times the task of improving the prairie
and paying out such a debt seemed hopeless. The people were organized
into clubs in every school district of Oklahoma under the name of the
Free Home League. During this time many congressmen were importuned
by friends and relatives and all prominent men were besieged to such
good effect that in the platforms of the national parties a plank was
inserted guaranteeing to the people of Oklahoma free homes. It
finally culminated in the ‘Free Homes Bill,’ which was one of the
most important governmental
measures adopted during the early years of Oklahoma Territory.”
afterwards became active in agitating this subject of free homes
among the people, and for two terms served as president of the state
organization known as the Free Home League. On the change of
administration in 1897 Mr. Houston became assistant to Hon. William
Jenkins, then secretary of Oklahoma Territory, under William
McKinley. The secretary’s office at that time was very important,
comprising the department of oversight of corporations, insurance,
and disbursing offices, and having custody of the legislative
records. His connection with this office gave Mr. Houston other
opportunities for wide experience and acquaintance with the early
political life of Oklahoma.
In 1901 Mr. Jenkins
was made governor of Oklahoma Territory by appointment from President
William McKinley. On account of the warm friendship which had grown
up between them, Governor Jenkins tendered Mr. Houston the position
of secretary of the board for leasing public lands, a position
generally known as commissioner of school land office. This position
was all the more important at that time because of the opening to
settlement of the Kiowa and Comanche Indian reservations, as well as
the leasing of all other public lands in Oklahoma. In connection with
the Kiowa and Comanche opening there was involved the selection of
the indemnity lands at Washington City. An annual rental value was
placed upon each quarter section of the four sections in each
congressional township to be opened to settlement. The lease on each
piece was then offered to the highest bidder. Nearly a million
dollars was deposited with the bids, and when the land was finally
awarded $188,000 bonus money above the rentals was added to the
assassination of President McKinley and the accession of Roosevelt to
the presidency there followed the usual realignment and changes in
political offices subject to partisan control. As a result Governor
Jenkins lost his position and T. B. Ferguson was appointed governor.
Governor Ferguson and Mr. Houston had both belonged to the same
political faction, and Mr. Houston .was retained in the land office.
A year later Mr. Flynn dropped out of territorial politics and Mr.
McGuire became the territorial delegate. This introduced a new
influence with Governor Ferguson and among the numerous changes that
followed one was the displacement of Mr. Houston from the land
The Houston family
represented by this Henryetta citizen have always been pioneers. Mr.
Houston himself came to Oklahoma Territory in its early days and
helped to build the modern state. His father, D. W. Houston, had gone
to Kansas in the struggle over the free state and was an influential
factor in its progress and development. Mr. Houston’s
great-grandfather had lived in Ohio when it was a part of the great
Northwest Territory, while another great-grandfather took part in the
erection of the State of Pennsylvania and the formation of the United
States. Some of the first ancestors were settlers in the early
provinces of the Atlantic colonies.
It was at Newcastle,
Pennsylvania, October 18, 1857, that James Johnston Houston was born.
He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His great-grandfather, John Houston,
was a soldier in the Revolution. The other great-grandfather
mentioned, on the maternal side, was a Rankin, and was a member of
one of the first sessions of the Pennsylvania Legislature.
Shortly after James
J. Houston was born his parents moved out to Kansas, where his
father, D. W. Houston, took part in the struggle for freedom, riding
the prairies to attend the free state meetings and to attend the
different territorial conventions preceding statehood. He joined the
Union army at the first call, as a private in the Seventh Kansas
Cavalry, and afterwards he was discharged as a lieutenant-colonel. In
later years he served in the State Senate and House and as United
States Marshal of Kansas.
In such a country
and from a father whose associations were so prominent, James J.
Houston naturally acquired broad impressions, the habit of judging
matters on principle and with positive conviction, and from childhood
has been mostly familiar with the life and spirit of the great
western country. He attended the common schools and the Leavenworth
High School, was a student at the University of Kansas, and had begun
the study of law before it became necessary for him to depend upon
his own efforts for advancement. For a time he taught school, and
after serving as register of deeds and county clerk in his home
county of Kansas he was engaged in the real estate and insurance
business and in other lines of mercantile and professional work.
Between times he served two terms as mayor of Barnett, Kansas. From
there he came to Oklahoma at the opening of the Cherokee Strip,
twenty-two years ago. Since leaving the Oklahoma land office Mr.
Houston has applied his time and energy entirely to business matters.
In 1913 he removed from Guthrie to Henryetta, believing that a great
industrial center would eventually grow up at the latter town.
In 1881 Mr. Houston
married Mary Elizabeth Parks. They are the parents of one son and one
daughter, and the son, following the traditions of the family as
pioneers, has gone to the Far West. Mr. Houston is one of the ruling
elders of the First Presbyterian Church at Henryetta. In politics he
is a republican practically since childhood.