Hines, H. K. "An Illustrated History of the State of Oregon." Chicago: Lewis
Pub. Co. 1893.  p. 719.
 
SAMUEL B. HUSTON

     Of Hillsboro, is one of the members of the legal profession who, aided by
his own genius, has rapidly risen to prominence among the many talented lawyers
of Oregon.  He was born in New Philadelphia, Washington county, Indiana, on
March 16, 1858.  His father, Oliver Huston, was born in the same place in 1836.
The family originated in Scotland, and removed from there to England and from
there to America previous to the Revolution.  There were three brothers, one
settled at Rockbridge, Virginia, and the others in Mifflin county, Pennsylvania.
General Samuel Huston, of Texas, descended from the Rockbridge brother.  Our
Samuel Huston's father was a descendant of one of the brothers who settled in
Pennsylvania.  Mr. Huston's great-grandfather, Alexander Huston, emigrated from
Pennsylvania to Kentucky and was one of the early pioneers of that State.  His
son, Samuel M. Huston, was born in Nelson county, Kentucky, where he was raised,
and he removed to Indiana, where his son, Mr. Huston's father, was born.  He
married there a Miss Lucretia P. Naugle, of his own county and a daughter of
Jacob Naugle, of Pennsylvania, and of German ancestry.
     Mr. Huston was the eldest of three children.  His father enlisted in the
Eighteenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and was killed at the battles of Stone
river.  His two brothers and his mother died soon after the death of his father,
and by the time he had reaches his twenty-first year he had not a single near
relative left.  He obtained his education at the Northern Indiana State Norman
School, and in 1877 began to read law with George N. Parker, of Robinson,
Illinois.  Later he read with Heffron & Zaring at Salem, Indiana, and was
admitted to the bar in 1879.  He then went west to Kansas City, and was in the
employ of the Chicago Lumber Company for a short time, and then went to New
Mexico and was there in the employ of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad
Company.  He came to Forest Grove, Oregon, in 1883 and worked at the milling
business, which he had learned of his stepfather, who owned a mill in Illinois.
While working at the mill in Forest Grove a law case came up and Mr. Huston was
induced to try it against Thomas B. Handley.  He was so successful in the case
that Mr. Handley offered him a partnership in his law business.  All these years
Mr. Huston had been unwilling to begin practice without the necessary books
which he could not obtain, and indeed he had formed a low estimate of his own
fitness for the profession.  His partnership continued with Mr. Handley until
1888, when they dissolved partnership, and since then Mr. Huston has practiced
alone in Hillsboro, where he has achieved a success which was very unexpected to
him, and he now enjoys a large and lucrative practice.  He is a member of the
bar and has several times been elected as a member of the City Council, and he
runs far ahead of his ticket.  He was nominated by the Democratic party in 1888
for State Senator, and that year the Republican majority was 410, and he was
only defeated by 226 votes.  During that campaign he made a very capable and
effective campaign through the county.
     In 1892 he was again nominated, on the Democratic ticket, for the office of
State Senator against Hon. Thomas H. Tongue, one of the leading lawyers of the
State.  The Republican ticket had over 500 majority at this election, yet Mr.
Huston was elected by 158 majority, and has the honor of being the first
Democrat who ever represented his county in the Senate.  He at once took rank as
one of the leading men in the Senate.
     Mr. Huston was married in 1884, to Miss Ella Geiger, of Forest Grove, and
the daughter of Dr. William Geiger, a prominent pioneer of Oregon, who came to
the Territory in 1839.  Mr. and Mrs. Huston have three children, all born in
Hillsboro.  The names are Ella Blanche, Oliver B. and Carl.  Mr. Huston has
built an attractive residence in Hillsboro, fronting the grounds of the
courthouse, and it is one of the most delightful homes in Hillsboro.  He is also
engaged in real-estate transactions and aids all enterprises intended to benefit
the city or county.
 
 

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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in October 2005 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.