University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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Q s: e) ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS DAVID FRANKLIN HOUSTON. M. A.. LL. D. PRESIDENT JAMES BENJAMIN CLARK. B. A.. JOHN W. HOPKINS. WILSON WILLIAMS. ROBERT E. LEE SANER. LL. CHARLES B. WINN. BEN M. BARKER. W. L. COOK. BURFORD K. ISAACS, W. GILL SHAW. P (9

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S residont 2)avid U ranlilin iouston. FTKK six yi ars of as devoted service as ever man gave to institution President William L. Prather died yV on the :;4th oi July, 1905, in the fullness of manhood, suddenly, as he desired, his lite shortened by the strain of a new and laborious task. The University paused fi ' om its work to lay his body to rest and to honor his memory, but then its work must needs go on. The Dean of the Faculty took the reins for the j time, many supposed for a year at least, but the Board of Regents at its meeting on the 16th of August decidcil that an interregnum was harmful and needless and proceeded at once to the election of a now President. A number of names were considered. In the end the unanimous choice of the Board rested on President Houston, of the Agricultural and Mechanical College. He was then at Beverley, Massachusetts. Being informed of his election by telegram, to the great gratification of the University he accepted the position, and on the tirst of September assumed its duties. President Houston is no stranger to the University, but his return as President renders appropriate a review of his life and work. In the first half of the eighteenth century three Houston brothers, of Scotch descent, came from Ireland to Virginia. There they separated, one going north to Pennsylvania, the second settling in North Carolina, the third pushing still further south. All three are represented l)y a numerous band of descendants. Among the Pennsyl- vania Houstons the most noted is perhaps the late Henry H. Houston, the well known philanthroiiist of Chest- nut Hill, Philadelphia. Among the representatives of the third brother is to be counted Sam Houston, the most famous name in Texas history. The second brother ' s descendants, living for the most part in Mecklenburg County, Noi-th Carolina, and the neighborhood, have been foremost among the citizens of that sturdy Scotch- Irish community. Prom this stock comes our new President. David Franklin Houston was born in Monroe, Union County, North Carolina, on the ITtli of February, 1) (36, the son of William Henry Houston and Cornelia Ann Stevens. When he was six years old his parents removed to Darlington, South Carolina, and there he was brought up, in the simple life of an old Southern town, where if money was scarce standards were high. Young Houston was prepared for college at the old St. John ' s Acad- emy, a school that even yet lie looks back to as the best preparatory boys ' school he has known. It was not a public school in the ordinary sense, for there was a tuition fee of forty-five dollars a session, but it was k-ei)t up by the better class of citizens, who believed that a thoroughly good school was a necessity to the wellbeing of