Thomas William House Sr.

Thomas William House Sr. (March 4, 1814 – January 17, 1880) was a merchant, cotton factor, investor, banker, and politician in Houston, Texas. House started as a baker in New York and New Orleans, before establishing his own businesses in Houston. These businesses included a bakery and confectionary, a general dry goods store, cotton factorage, and bank. He was also a major investor and organizer of Houston-based transportation and utility companies. He traded cotton while evading naval blockades during the American Civil War.

Early life

House was born on March 4, 1814, in Stoke St Gregory, Somerset, England.

Career

Baker/confectioner

In May 1835, House emigrated to New York City. There, he became a successful pastry maker. Later House accepted an invitation from the owner of the St. Charles Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana, to run the bakery at the hotel.

In 1838, he opened his own store, House and Loveridge, a bakery and confectionary in Houston, Texas. The next year he formed a new partnership with Charles Shearn, later the chief justice of Harris County. The store produced and sold Houston's first ice cream. The new firm sold candy and dry goods, while buying and selling wholesale with people from the Texas hinterlands. House started offering factoring service around this time, exchanging store goods in exchange for cotton. The store took orders for staples, such as flour and sugar, but also iron castings and percussion caps. House imported goods from Boston, New Orleans, and New York, but made direct cotton shipments to Liverpool, England.McComb (1981), pp. 1920.

Transportation

In 1850, House was one of the founders of the Houston Plank Road Company, an early attempt to improve wagon transportation to and from the interior. The company raised $150,000 in capital, but it scuttled plans for building oaken-plank roads as the feasibility of railroads emerged.

In 1851, House helped to organize the steamboat company Houston and Galveston Navigation Company. Their steamboats carried not only freight, but also passengers and U.S. mail. Other companies he worked with included the Texas Transportation Company, the Houston Direct Navigation Company, and the Buffalo Bayou Ship Channel Company.

Cotton factor

For a brief time, he had a second partnership with his father-in-law Shearn. Later, in 1853, House bought the cotton jobbing business of James H. Stevens and Company, a dealer in dry goods and groceries. He paid $40,000 for it. At the time, it was the largest sum of money to change hands in Houston's history. House renamed the company T.W. House and Company, and began extending loans to cotton planters. Edward Mather, an employee since 1841, was his "company". However, when Mather left in 1862, House was alone in business again. During the time they were together, T.W. House and Company became Texas's largest wholesaler. House prospered selling commodities ranging from hides to syrup and from guns to blacksmithing tools. Ox wagons would wait 12 hours for their goods to be loaded into his store. Out of his store, he built his great private bank.

By 1860, House was one of the three wealthiest Houstonians with William Marsh Rice and William J. Hutchins. House supported the Confederacy in the American Civil War. He helped to outfit local militia groups, including the Houston Light Guards, who were nicknamed the Kid Glove Gentry because of the kid gloves supplied by House. House exported cotton in exchange for cash or munitions. Relocating to Galveston during the war, House surveyed the blockading Union fleet movements. In this way House was able to direct his trading ships to evade the blockage, while also arranging overland transportation to and from Mexico.Hall (2014), pp. 69−71.

Utilities, banking, and agriculture

House did not stop developing Houston after the Civil War. In 1866, he organized the Houston Gas Company, Houston's first public utility. House erected the plant and the mains at a time when the general public was indifferent. Gas first came to hotels and public places. Slowly, it came to private homes, and eventually gas street lamps were erected on the streets of Houston. He also helped organize the first street railway, the Board of Trade and Cotton Exchange, the Houston and Texas Central Railroad, along with many other railroads. In 1872, House purchased an extensive sugar plantation in Arcola. He also grew cotton. In La Salle County, he had a ranch.

Public life

House was a founding member of the Protection Fire Company, and remained a member until his death. He served as an alderman of Houston in 1857 and 1862, and he was mayor of Houston, Texas in 1862.

Personal life

Thomas and Mary House had a total of eight children, six of whom reached maturity.Lewis Publishing (1895), pp. 313−317.

Mary Shearn House, House's wife of thirty years, died in 1871.

Death and legacy

House died on January 17, 1880 in San Antonio, where he had been convalescing. At his death, his estate of $500,000 made him one of the wealthiest people in Texas. The T.W. House Bank continued the operate after his death.

One of his sons, Edward M. House, became an adviser to Woodrow Wilson.

References

Bibliography

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{{DEFAULTSORT:House, Thomas William Sr.
1814 births
1880 deaths
Businesspeople from Texas
Mayors of Houston
People of Texas in the American Civil War
People from Taunton Deane (district)
English emigrants to the United States
Burials at Glenwood Cemetery (Houston, Texas)
19th-century American businesspeople
American bankers
19th-century American planters
Bakers
People from the Republic of Texas
19th-century mayors of places in Texas