Houston Road is a familiar name to those who ride the school bus to Wissahickon High School. I did a post about Dager Road, and how its name came about. What about Houston Road? Where did that come from?
Francis Houston, Sr.
Francis "Frank" Houston, Sr. (1850-1933) was born in a big family in Philadelphia. After marrying his wife Ellen Shuster, the couple moved to Lower Gwynedd where Frank built his family home named "Brookside." Frank lived in Lower Gwynedd from 1874 to 1912 when the family moved to the Shawnee on Delaware, PA. He sold his property to Thomas Barclay Stephens (1870-1921) for $5,600.
Houston Brothers in Cuba
Frank's sons Lamour Stuart Houston (1879-1960) and Wallace Boyd Houston (1881-1960) were living in Cuba running a tobacco business. It started with Stuart's connection with Cuba when he was taking business courses in Philadelphia where he met a Cuban. The two became friends after teaching each other English and Spanish.
Stuart was invited by his friend to come to Cuba where he became a tutor to his friend's family. After finding out his friend's father was a large sugar planter, Stuart became interested in the business. Right away, Stuart rose to the top, and became one of the directors of the family business.
Wallace, meanwhile, was spending his time in Mexico and Panama. He became a salesman with an oil manufacturer, and traveled down south to sell oil. He traveled to Cuba with his brother Stuart where they purchased a large area of ground and used the land to sell tobacco. They sold tobacco to the United States government for its war vessels.
On the brothers' land, they grew hennequen, a fiber from the leaves that was used to make materials like rope.
Married Into the Houston Family
Lamour Stuart Houston spent his time abroad in Cuba where he runs a tobacco company, and became a foreign correspondent. While in Cuba he met a teacher and author from Havana named Pilar Lluy (1880-1937).
Pilar Lluy was born to wealthy parents in Jaruco, Cuba in 1880. She learned English at a young age, and even translated books from famous authors at the time. Pilar earned her degree from Harvard University, and was chosen to write in the Boston Post about the impressions of Cuban woman, earning her recognition in the US and at home in Cuba.
In 1904, she married Lamour Stuart Houston in her home country.
Her works have been published in Havana newspapers under her pseudonym, "Nydia."
List of writings:
MarÃa
Cuba y América
Diario de la Familia
Hojas Selectas
Regina: Leyenda de CojÃmar
Evangelina
Alerta
"He sido maestra de muchas cubanas distinguidas que hoy figuran en el gran mundo social. Soy una mujer sencilla, devota de mi hogar, de mi patria y sobre todo del Sunshine al que dedico de cuerpo y alma todas mis energÃas. Llevo el nombre de mi marido con orgullo y veneración; soy Mrs L. Stuart Houston; asà como fuà en mi pasado Pilar Lluy."
"I have been the teacher of many distinguished Cuban women who appear today in the great social world. I am a simple woman, devoted to my home, my country and above all the Sunshine to which I dedicate all my energies body and soul. I bear my husband's name with pride and reverence; I am Mrs. L. Stuart Houston; just as I was in my past Pilar Lluy."
- Pilar Lluy, 1910
Bibliography
"Ambler Boys Making Good." Ambler Gazette. March 24, 1910. Page 7. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wivp-gazett/id/4860/rec/6.
Curquejo, Antonio González. Florilegio de escritoras cubanas, Volume 1. (Habana: La Moderna poesia, 1910): 141-151.
Franklin Survey Co. Atlas: Montgomery County 1934 Vol A, Plate 15, 1934.
Mueller, A. H. Atlas of the North Penn Section of Montgomery County, Pa., Plate 27, 1916.
"Obituary." Ambler Gazette. September 14, 1933. Page 1. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wivp-gazett/id/19819/rec/19.
"Real Estate Transfers." Ambler Gazette. May 12, 1910. Page 7. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wivp-gazett/id/6194/rec/1.
"Real Estate Transfers." Ambler Gazette. February 1, 1912. Page 3. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wivp-gazett/id/7701/rec/8.
Scott, J. D. Montgomery County 1877, Gwynedd, North Wales, Ambler, Royer's Ford, Limerick Station, 1877.
Smith, J. L. Montgomery County 1893, Upper and Lower Gwynedd Townships, Lansdale, North Wales, Spring House, Ambler Right, 1893.
"United States and Cuba." Ambler Gazette. August 14, 1902. Page 1. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wivp-gazett/id/3684/rec/2.
"Wallace Boyd Houston Sr." FamilySearch. Accessed April 9, 2022. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LY2B-VSS/wallace-boyd-houston-sr.-1881-1960.
"Wedded." Ambler Gazette. September 22, 1904. Page 1. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wivp-gazett/id/2018/rec/1.
"Wissahickon Valley Public Library's Ambler Gazette Collection." POWER Library: Pennsylvania's Electronic Library. Accessed January 22, 2022. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/wivp-gazett.