Houston City Beat stepped back in time on Friday, February 28th at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Texas. The occasion was a special one—Texas Independence Day on March 2 coincided with the birthday of Sam Houston, the towering figure of Texas history. The museum grounds buzzed with anticipation, centered around the Bear Bend Cabin, a wooden structure steeped in the legacy of the Houston family. Originally a hunting lodge nestled near the Montgomery-Walker County line in the 1850s, the cabin had been relocated to the museum complex in 2010 after a series of moves since 1974. On this crisp night, it stood as a living testament to the past, its weathered logs glowing under the flicker of candlelight and the warmth of a fireplace.
Inside, reenactors dressed in period-correct attire filled the air with laughter, the strum of a guitar, and the clatter of a card game—scenes Sam Houston himself might have witnessed during his visits. On the front porch, a different kind of history unfolded as descendants of the legendary Texian—John Murray, Claude Rost, and Stephen Rost—gathered, their voices weaving tales of lineage and legacy. Seeing them there, smiling and swapping stories about their great-great-grandfather, it was easy to imagine Sam Houston leaning against the railing, a contented grin on his face.
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Meet the Descendants of Sam Houston stepped back in time on Friday, February 28th at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Texas
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Meet the Descendants of Sam Houston as they stepped back in time on Friday, February 28th at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Texas
Stephen Rost (Left), Claude Rost (Middle), John Murray (Right), Derrick Birdsall Museum Director at Sam Houston University (Far Right)
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Meet the Descendants of Sam Houston stepped back in time on Friday, February 28th at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Texas
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Claude Rost (Left), John Murray (Right)
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Meet the Descendants of Sam Houston stepped back in time on Friday, February 28th at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Texas
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Stephen Rost (Left), Claude Rost (Middle)
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Meet the Descendants of Sam Houston stepped back in time on Friday, February 28th at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Texas
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Claude Rost (Middle)
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Meet the Descendants of Sam Houston stepped back in time on Friday, February 28th at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Texas
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Bear Bend Cabin
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Meet the Descendants of Sam Houston stepped back in time on Friday, February 28th at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Texas
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Meet the Descendants of Sam Houston stepped back in time on Friday, February 28th at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Texas
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Meet the Descendants of Sam Houston stepped back in time on Friday, February 28th at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Texas
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Reenactment of Sam Houston by Derrick Birdsall in the Bear Bend Cabin
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Meet the Descendants of Sam Houston stepped back in time on Friday, February 28th at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Texas
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Meet the Descendants of Sam Houston stepped back in time on Friday, February 28th at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Texas
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Meet the Descendants of Sam Houston stepped back in time on Friday, February 28th at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Texas
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Meet the Descendants of Sam Houston stepped back in time on Friday, February 28th at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Texas
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Meet the Descendants of Sam Houston stepped back in time on Friday, February 28th at the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Texas
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John Murray, a resident of Floresville, Texas, about 30 miles southeast of San Antonio, spoke first, his tone warm and unassuming. “We’re here celebrating Texas Independence Day, sure, but tomorrow’s Sam’s birthday, so it’s a double occasion,” he said, glancing at his wife with a chuckle. “We try to make it every year, though I got sick a few years back and we missed some. Hopefully, we’ll keep coming.” For John, being a descendant of Sam Houston was less a badge of pride and more a quiet fact of life. “I didn’t think much about it growing up,” he admitted. “My mom told me when I was about 10, in fourth grade. We’d visit my aunt’s clothing store here in Huntsville once a year, but it wasn’t until maybe 20 years ago that I started really acknowledging it.”
John traced his lineage with a steady voice: “Andrew Jackson Houston, who everyone called ‘Big Papa’, was my great-grandfather. His daughter was my grandmother, Anna Josephine Houston, who married a Paulus (he was my grandfather). Then my mother was Mary Margaret Paulus. She married a McDougal, my sister and I were born in ‘47 and ‘50. They divorced in ‘52. She married Clark Murray, who adopted me in 1956, and I’ve had his name ever since.” He grinned sheepishly, recounting a recent misadventure. “My wife got us here despite me nearly detouring us to Austin. You’d think with Texas geography and army infantry in my past, I’d have a better sense of direction!”
Nearby, Claude Rost, hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio, offered a different perspective. “We came down in 1993 for the bicentennial of Sam’s birth—over a hundred descendants were here,” he recalled. “It was a life-changing event, reconnecting with family we’d never met.” Claude’s connection ran through his great-grandmother, Nettie Houston Bringhurst, born in 1852 at the Woodland Home on the museum grounds. “She married Professor Bringhurst, the first doctoral-level educator at Texas A&M,” he explained. “Our grandmother was born in Bryan, and the family later moved to San Antonio. Mom ended up in Cincinnati at 12, and it wasn’t until ’93 that we bridged that 60-year gap with relatives.”
Claude’s eyes lit up as he described a memorable dinner in 2009 at the Woodland Home. “It was the first time Houstons had eaten there in 150 years—pretty special.” He spoke of artifacts donated to the museum, their significance unveiled by then-director Mac Woodward. “Mom made sure we knew Texas history, but meeting folks like John and discovering family ties—that’s what keeps us coming back.”
Stephen Rost, Claude’s brother, leaned into the conversation with a playful shrug. “I’m not big on the lineage details—Claude’s the expert there. I just come down when I can.” Born in 1949, Stephen marveled at the proximity of their family’s story to Texas’s formative years. “Mom grew up with Nettie and her sisters, and in the ’50s, they did a spread in the Los Angeles Times about these Houston women—early feminists, I’d say. Mom was a school superintendent, strong and independent before it was a thing.”
Claude shared a gem from 1911: “Our great-grandmother ripped up William Jennings Bryan’s speech for Sam’s grave monument dedication—said he couldn’t say that! And Mom, at four, unveiled the equestrian statue in Hermann Park. The shroud got caught on the horse’s ear, just like she told us.” His pride in the family’s spirited women shone through as he recalled a ceremony at Sam Houston State University where assigned seating for the family left a big open section nearby. “In ’93, at the coliseum here, we all just decided to move seats when the assigned ones didn’t work. That’s the Houston way—independent.”
The Sam Houston Memorial Museum complex sprawls across 15 acres, dotted with historic structures that breathe life into the Houston saga. Beyond Bear Bend Cabin, the Woodland Home—where Sam and Margaret Lea Houston raised their family until his governorship in 1859—stands as a centerpiece. The Steamboat House, where Sam died in 1863, adds a poignant note, while the kitchen and law office buildings offer glimpses into daily life. Inside the main museum, exhibits showcase Sam’s military gear, personal letters, and Cherokee artifacts, reflecting his multifaceted legacy as a soldier, statesman, and adopted member of the Cherokee Nation.
As Derrick Birdsall, the museum director, moved among the crowd dressed as Sam Houston in his wide-brimmed hat, his reverence for the man was palpable. For John, Claude, and Stephen, that story is personal—a thread tying them to a past that shaped Texas and a present that keeps them returning to Huntsville. Whether pondering Sam’s reaction to modern Houston’s sprawl or laughing over family quirks, their voices on the porch echoed a timeless connection, one the museum preserves with every flickering candle and weathered log.
