He believed his wife to be an exemplary woman of faith and, under her influence, converted to the Baptist denomination, after he had many years earlier been baptized a Catholic in Nacogdoches, Texas.

When she died of yellow fever four and a half years later, Margaret could not be buried with her husband in a public cemetery in Huntsville for fear of contamination, and was instead interred next to her mother on private property.

[4] The older Lea children had married prior to Temple's death, but Vernal, Margaret and Antoinette accompanied the widowed Nancy when she moved into her son Henry's home at Marion.

The latter was founded by Baptists to instruct genteel young women in what were considered acceptable goals of their time and place, "proficiency in needlework, dancing, drawing, and penmanship".

Reverend Peter Crawford baptized her in the Siloam Baptist Church of Marion when she was 19, by which time the eligible young lady was considered "accomplished, well-connected and deeply religious".

[18] As the day of their May 9, 1840, wedding approached, some family members still looked upon Houston with uncertainty and were determined to stop what they believed would be a disastrous union for Margaret.

[22] The year before he met Margaret, Houston had purchased property at Cedar Point on Galveston Bay in Chambers County, which he named Raven Moor, and planned to expand with income from his law practice.

[23] The existing two-room log dogtrot house with its detached slave quarters overlooked Galveston Bay and became the newlyweds' first home, filled with both Margaret's personal furnishings from Alabama, as well as newer pieces.

[24] She renamed it Ben Lomond as a tip of the hat to the romantic Walter Scott works she had read, and delegated management of the household to her mother Nancy.

[27] Margaret disliked campaign events and, giving up her privacy, so she frequently stayed home while her husband traveled about the Republic canvassing for votes.

[39] When his presidential term ended on December 9, 1844, Houston turned his attention to the Raven Hill plantation he had acquired that year northwest of Grand Cane and east of Huntsville.

Although she accompanied him to President Andrew Jackson's Tennessee funeral in the summer of 1845, she did not attend fetes held in her husband's honor by his old friends and supporters.

[Note 1] Margaret's pregnancy prevented her from accompanying him, so when time and duty permitted he traveled back and forth between Texas and a temporary hotel residence in the nation's capital.

[44] When Reverend George W. Samson first met Houston at the E-Street Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., the senator told him that his attendance had been influenced by "one of the best Christians on earth", his wife Margaret.

For the duration of his senatorial service, Houston regularly attended the E-Street church, sharing his wife's letters with Samson and delving into theological discussions pertaining to Margaret's interpretation of scriptures.

[47] About this time, in a letter to Houston that gave insight into Nancy's forceful constant presence in their lives, Margaret conceded, "She is high spirited and a little overbearing, I admit ..." but advised her husband to just give in to the insignificant issues.

[53] With most of his time spent in the nation's capital, Houston's perception of Thorne was primarily second-hand gleanings from Margaret's letters; yet, he disliked and distrusted the orphaned girl to the point where he feared for the health and safety of his children with her in the house.

When a grand jury investigation resulted in a deadlock, the matter was referred to the local Baptist church that Margaret helped found, and she was acquitted of the charges.

[63] As required by Mexican federal law for property ownership in Coahuila y Tejas, Houston had been baptized into the Catholic faith in the Adolphus Sterne House in Nacogdoches prior to Texas independence.

[65] Reverend Rufus Columbus Burleson, the president of Baylor University and local church pastor,[66] performed the rite in Little Rocky Creek, 2 miles (3.2 km) southeast of town.

[69][70] The state legislature decided during Houston's third senatorial term not to re-elect him, so he ran for the office of Governor of Texas, losing to Hardin Richard Runnels.

[73] He subsequently defeated incumbent Runnels with a second bid for the office during a period when the populace was bitterly divided over the issue of secession from the United States, and was sworn on December 31, 1859.

As with everywhere else had they lived, she cared nothing about public life, and instead worked with Eliza[77] and the other servants to create a home that welcomed extended family members and personal friends of the Houstons.

[86] Sometime during August 1861, Sam Houston, Jr., enlisted in the Confederate States Army 2nd Texas Infantry Regiment, Company C Bayland Guards, sending Margaret into melancholia.

The Texas legislature eventually gave Margaret an amount equivalent to her husband's unpaid gubernatorial salary; nevertheless, in order to afford Sam Jr.'s enrollment at medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, she rented out the Ben Lomond plantation.

Walter Reed would not make his discovery of the cause of yellow fever through mosquito bite until 1900;[97] contamination through contact was the pervading fear in 1867, and prevented Margaret's remains from being interred in a public cemetery with her husband's.

She was buried in the ground beside Nancy's tomb at 11 p.m. by her servant Bingley, family friend Major Eber Cave, and her two daughters Nettie and Mary Willie.

[98] Two years after Sam Houston's death, Baylor University president William Carey Crane was commissioned by Margaret to write her husband's biography, allowing complete access to all correspondence and records.

According to daughter Maggie, the author had told her that many valuable documents were destroyed by Margaret in a fit of anger when someone she considered a friend expressed disinterest.

Each in her own way greatly influenced the career of Sam Houston and the course of Texas History After emancipation and Margaret's death, "Aunt Eliza", as the children called her, alternated her time between Nannie's and Maggie's households.