Ulysses Grant Houston

ULYSSES GRANT HOUSTON, son of TABITHA KIMBALL and SAMUEL DEXTER HOUSTON, was born November 23, 1860,⁴⁷¹⁸ and died August 11, 1920 in Okene, Blaine, Oklahoma.⁶⁶³³

He married (1) BELLE VARVEL on September 7, 1892 in Topeka, Shawnee, Kansas.⁴⁷²¹

He married (2) MARY L. H. HAYS on January 1, 1896 in Gilmer County, West Virginia.¹⁷⁸⁸

• Descendant Reports
  • Samuel Houston Descendant Report (Ancestor of Ulysses G. Houston)

Education

Marriage Announcements and News

Concordia Empire, September 15, 1892⁴⁷²¹

The Topeka papers last week gave notice of the marriage at that place of Grant Houston and Miss Belle Varvel both of Concordia. Mr. Houston has earned quite a reputation as a traveler, anc considerable notoriety through the ceremony of baptism he received in the rive Jordon by Dr. Talmage while traveling in the East. Miss Varvel was one of the excellent young ladies of our city and one of the best teachers in our city schools. Mr. H. expects to attend a theological seminary the coming season.

Newspaper Articles

Manhattan Republic, February 20, 1890⁶⁶²⁹

The Man Talmage Baptized

Since that fact was published that Dr. Talmage recently baptized a Manhattan man in the river Jordan, our people have been curious as to his identity, anxious to learn his name. There is a young gentleman traveling in the Holy Land who was born near this city, and educated at the Agricultural College. He belongs to a family well known among old residents. We refer to Ulysses Grant Houston, youngest son of S. D. Houston, St., and a cousin of Sam Kimble, a leading attorney of this city.

Mr. Houston is about 24 years of age, a young man of ability and energy, who spent some time in eastern educational institutions after his graduation here. He was original, perhaps eccentric, in his make-up and attracted attention in the East on account of some inventions in connection with astronomy. It is believed Mr. Houston was in Palestine at the time Dr. Talmage visited that country, and it is not at all improbable that he is the gentleman who was immersed in the Jordan by this distinguished divine.

Fort Scott Daily Tribune, April 15, 1890⁶⁶³⁰

BAPTIZED IN THE JORDAN

HOW DR. TALMAGE PERFORMED THE SACRED RITE

Mr. Ulysses Grant Houston Was The Subject, and The Ceremony Was Performed in the Presence of a Party of Travelers and Natives

The accompanying picture, says The Christian Herald and Signs of Our Times, is engraved from one of a number of photographs brought home from the Holy Land by a member of Dr. Talmage's party. This picture represents one of the most solemn and deeply interesting incidents of Dr. Talmage's tour—that of the baptism in the River Jordan of Mr. Ulysses Grant Houston, of Manhattan, Kan., a theological student.

The baptism took place on Dec. 6, 1889, in the presence of two friends and traveling companions of Mr. Houston and of Dr. Talmage's party, with their dragoman, muleteers and an Arab sheik, who had been retained to protect the travelers on their journey. Such precautions are necessary now in the neighborhood of Jericho, as they were in the Saviour's time, when a "certain man going to Jericho fell among thieves."

The journey commenced at Jericho. This is the third of the cities which have borne that name, and was the city of our Lord's time.

From this place, so rich in sacred historical associations, Dr. Talmage and his party set out, mounted on horses, in a southerly direction for the north of the Dead sea and the River Jordan. About half an hour's ride brought them to Riha, or the modern Jericho, a collection of houses built in modern style, and boasting a hotel of some pretensions, whose chief support comes from foreign visitors to the Holy Land. As they passed the hotel three travelers emerged from it whose dress and manner suggested their being fellow countrymen. The suspicion was confirmed when their leader greeted Dr. Talmage in English.

It appeared that he was a Bostonian, and he expressed the pleasure it would afford him and his companions, as they also were going to the Dead sea and the Jordan, to make the trip in company with the preacher's party. The Bostonian frankly said that he had been concerned in the publication of a hostile criticism on Dr. Talmage's sermons, but he trusted that would not prevent their good fellowship on such an excursion. In the view Dr. Talmage good humoredly concurred, and the two parties rode on together in company. In such a scene, and on a road so hallowed by the most wonderful and momentous events of Bible history, merely personal concerns were forgotten in the solemn associations of the locality.

About an hour's ride brought the party to the shores of the Dead sea, about which many strange stories have been related by travelers.

The River Jordan, to the Christian the most interesting stream in the whole world, was not far away, and the travelers, after spending half an hour on the shores of the Dead sea, remounted their horses and rode thitherward. In about three-quarters of an hour their eyes were gladdened by a sight of the river. It was indeed a privilege to stand upon those banks, and one that was evidently appreciated by every member of the party.

On the way Mr. Houston had fallen into conversation with a member of Dr. Talmage's party, and had delicately broached a request which was evidently a matter of very strong desire on his part. He said that he had often heard Dr. Talmage preach, and had been much blessed under him. He would count it a high privilege if the rite could take place in the Jordan. His desire was communicated to the doctor, and he cheerfully consented. Three o'clock was the time set for the ceremony, and meantime the tents were pitched, and one of the servants who could swim tested the bottom of the river for a suitable place for the ceremony, as there are deep places at intervals near the banks, and an accident was possible.

It was a delightful day, and though the month was December, the temperature was that of a summer day. At the hour appointed Dr. Talmage emerged from his tent clad in a long brown robe, borrowed for the occasion from the sheik. It was not unclerical in shape, though somewhat short for the doctor's tall form. The candidate for baptism had secured a long white robe from the Nubian attendant of his party, and thus clad, came to the bank where Dr. Talmage and the other members of the party waited.

It was an interesting group, composed of the American ladies and gentleman, the sheik, the muleteers and other attendants. The service was opened by singing. No hymn books were at hand, but the ladies of the party had provided for that deficiency while the tents were being pitched and the doctor and Mr. Houston were robing themselves. They had written out from memory the stanzas, so appropriate to the occasion and the scene, which now rose in cadence on the river bank:

It was a solemn scene; even the sheik was affected by it. To the surprise of the Americans he prostrated himself on the earth and prayed to Allah, as if the spirit of worship could not be resisted. As the singing ceased he rose and closely watched the ceremony. Dr. Talmage then led in prayer, invoking the Divine presence and blessing. Opening his Bible, he then read from the third chapter of Matthew the account of the baptism of Jesus. The customary questions to the candidate were asked and satisfactory answers were given.

Dr. Talmage then read his commission in Matthew xxviii, 19, 20, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the names of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," etc. Looking the candidate squarely in the face, Dr. Talmage said: "In this historic river, which parted three times to let God's people pass dry shod, in which Naaman plunged seven times for healing from dire disease, and from the banks of which Elijah ascended in equipage of fire, and in which Christ was baptized, and which for ages has been the symbol of the division between earth and heaven, I baptize thee."

Then, taking the candidate by then hand, he led him into the water. Reaching the sufficient depth, he immersed him three separate times, repeating the usual formula: "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost," after which he pronounced the benediction.At the close of the ceremony, Dr. Talmage said; "As the ordinance was observed under the direction of no particular denomination of Christians, and no particular church could be responsible for it, I feel it my duty to report what I did to the church universal."

After the ceremony, and when Dr. Talmage and Mr. Houston had resumed their usual attire, the latter went to Dr. Talmage and thanked him for acceding to his request; and said, reverently, that it would be a blessed and hallowing memory with him so long as he lived. Dr. Talmage took out his notebook and wrote a baptismal certificate, stating the time and place of the administration of the rite, which he handed to Mr. Houston.

Concerning the young man was then baptized, The News, of New Haven, Conn., says that last summer he was under the tuition of Professor W. W. Haskell, of that city, making a special study of New Testament Greek, with the intention of entering Yale university, but had deferred entering for a time. A deeply interested work of art, "one of the most interesting that it had ever been the writer's good fortune to see," designed and executed by Mr. Houston, was in October, 1889, on exhibition in the Yale reading room.

The News say: "Mr. Houston has also patented an Educational Model of the Universe,' which presents very ingenious methods of illustrating the movements of the human body, and also material illustrations of mental and moral truth. The model is now at the Northwestern university, in Chicago. His invention for illustrating the movements and positions of the planets of our solar system is very ingenious.

"In the same mechanism are represented a heavenly plane, a terrestrial plane, a spiritual plane, a vicious plane, a plane of art, a commercial plane and a portion of a celestial plane exterior to a portion of the solar system.Ex-President Porter is greatly interested in his mechanism for representing the free action of the will and other mental and moral truth. Professor Thayer, of the Harvard Divinity school, has also shown great interest in the work. When in England Professor Drummond and many of the English scholars became interested in his work."

Daily Mercury, October 7, 1910⁶⁶³¹

IN RIVER JORDAN

Ex-MANHATTAN CITIZEN, NOW AGED, ENTERS COLLEGE

NAME IS ULYSSES GRANT HOUSTON

Graduated From K. S. A. C. in '81—Now 50 Years Old and Enrolls at Ann Arbor

The following interesting dispatch comes from Ann Arbor, Michigan, under an October 5 date line:

Late this afternoon a man 50 years old registered in the University of Michigan as a freshman. His name is Ulysses Grant Houston. His home is Manhattan, Kansas. He is gray and his shoulders are stooped. It was he whom Talmage baptized in the River Jordan in 1889. He formerly was a Baptist minister.

Ulysses Grant Houston has not lived in Manhattan for ten or twelve years. He graduated from the college here in 1891. Later he became a lecturer on Bible lands, archaeology and antiquities. He became widely known because of his many eccentricities of conduct.

Among other things that gave him notoriety was his visit to Palestine several years ago. While he was there he was baptized in the River Jordan by Rev. Dewitt Talmage. The story was told at the time that Houston was baptized in the ecast where St. John baptized Jesus Christ: at all events, he so told his audiences.

He has a sister, Mrs. Chas. Green who still lives out on Wild Cat creek about four miles from Manhattan. Houston is a son of Samuel Houston, one of the first settlers of this part of the state, a member of the constitutional convention and the first man to represent this district in the state senate. Samuel Houston died at Salina last February at the age of 91 years. He was one of the founders of the college here.

It is said that Ulysses Grant Houston has recently made his home in Amherst, Mass. The old settlers here will remember both he and his father.

Topeka Daily Capital, September 26, 1919⁶⁶³²

AGED SCHOLAR WHO HAS MANY COLLEGE DEGREES WANTS IN HIGH SCHOOL

Cambridge, Mass., Sept. 25.—(Special)—The application of Ulysses Grant Houston, 59 years old, a native of Manhattan, Kan., and a world traveler and scholar, for admission to the Cambridge high school as an elementary Latin student, has brought Mr. Houston knowledge that he is the subject of a vigorous battle between the members of the Cambridge school committee. The committee believes that a class room filled with children between ages of 14 and 16 would be no place for a man as mature as Mr. Houston and a special committee of the Cambridge school committee has been appointed to decide the issue.

"The reason I applied for admission to the Latin class was because I could not see my way to pay the high fees a tutor demands," Mr. Houston said.

Houston hold degrees from colleges all over the United States. He obtained the degree of bachelor of science at the Kansas State Agricultural college at Manhattan.

Obituaries

Riley County Chronicle, August 13, 1920⁶⁶³³

AGGIE GRAD DEAD IN OKLA.

Ulysses Grant Houston to be Buried Here—Was Raised near Manhattan

Ulysses Grant Houston, a graduate of the college with the class of 1881, a lecturer and farmer, whose early life was spent in Manhattan and whose education was received here, died in a hospital at Okene, Okla., Wednesday at 2:30 o'clock, at the age of 59 years. The body will be brought to Manhattan for burial tomorrow. Details of the funeral arrangements have not yet been completed.

Mr. Houston is survived by three brothers and two sisters. The brothers are: L. N. Houston, banker and lawyer of Okemulgee, Okla., Sumner Houston, of R. R. 8, Manhattan; and Dexter Houston, of Texas, a lawyer.

The sisters are: Mrs. Hortense Martin of Maima, Okla., and Miss Luella Houston of Denver, Colo. Grant Houston was unmarried.

The cause of death has not been notified to the local relatives. Mr. Houston was the owner of farms in Kansas, Oklahoma and Colorado, but spent most of his time lecturing.

Census Records

Date	Location	Enumerated Names
June 6, 18704719	Manhattan, Riley, Kansas	Samuel Dexter Houston Tabitha Kimball Samuel Dexter Houston Mary Louella Houston Charles Sumner Houston Lawrence Nile Houston Ulysses Grant Houston Hortense Lorene Houston LaBlanche Houston
June 8, 18804724	Concordia, Cloud, Kansas	Samuel Dexter Houston Mary E. White Samuel Dexter Houston Mary Louella Houston Lawrence Nile Houston Ulysses Grant Houston Helen Houston
June 6, 19004731	River Township, Kingfisher, Oklahoma	Ulysses Grant Houston